Opposites
by writingtoinspire
Summary: Kayla Green was the quiet one. The Gryffindor that no one noticed. So when a secret power is revealed to her, who should she turn to for support? Well, she didn't expect a certain platinum haired Slytherin to get involved that's for sure. Rated M for language and mild sexual themes.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own any of the character in the Potter Universe, apart from Kayla. She's my wonderful little creation.**

**Hi there! This is my first story on fan and so I apologise if it's a bit messy.**

**Enjoy!**

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"Turn to page 273, where you will find notes on Draught of – " His eyes locked on his victim.

" - Peace. Miss Green!" Her eyes snapped up to find she was looking into her Potion master's empty, black eyes.

"Y-Yes sir?"

"Could you please tell me a side effect of Draught of Peace?" He asked mercilessly. She was trapped now.

"Erm… I-I don't know, Professor."

"Why am I not surprised? Well, if you weren't scribbling in your notebook, you would have known that if the ingredients were overdone, the drinker is sent into a deep sleep. 5 points from Gryffindor." He turned his back on the class and wrote some notes on the chalkboard. This was the third time Snape had picked on Kayla in particular this week. Why didn't he pick on any of the other Gryffindors? He hadn't even picked on Harry Potter recently and we all know about their hatred for each other. She couldn't believe the amount of time she had been caught writing or drawing in her notebook by Snape in particular, why was she being victimised?

She could hear Draco and his gang of insolent trolls stifling their laughter behind her. It's all right for him, he wouldn't get told by Snape because he's a slimy Slytherin. He just thinks he's flawless when the only other two people that really think that, are Pansy Parkinson and his mother.

"And so, for homework, I would like 2 pieces of parchment on Draught of Peace including the method and effects for Friday, no excuses. Class dismissed."

Isn't that wonderful? Yet another piece of homework she can tell she is going to have trouble with.

"Maybe I could ask Hermione Granger for help? She always seemed to be helping Ron, and they were good enough friends for that." Kayla thought.

"Hey Hermione!" Kayla exclaimed in the corridor.

Hermione turned round. "Hi Kayla. Are you all right? What Snape asked you was out of order. I mean, unless you had read ahead in Advanced Potion Making, you wouldn't have known the answer and he knew that…"

"Oh yeah, don't worry I don't really care to be completely honest with you. I really came to talk to you about maybe some tuition in Potions? I think that the reason Snape keeps asking me things I don't know because he knows I don't know it. So could you help me? I would really appreciate it." She pleaded. What could she do? She was desperate to put Snape to shame when he asks her another ridiculous question.

"Oh Kayla… I'm really not sure about that. I mean I do have my own work as well and I need to be prepared for my exams." Hermione replied, looking doubtful.

"But it would only be for one hour a week and I could pay you! Or perhaps something in return?"

"Oh… oh all right. But you don't have to pay Kayla. I would never teach someone for money. How about Thursday evening? Say around 7 o'clock? I could help you with the homework?"

"Oh thank you so much Hermione! I owe you!" Now Kayla could beat Snape at his own game. Hermione smiled and walked towards the Great Hall for lunch. Kayla began to follow her when she heard several pairs of feet walking up the corridor behind her. She didn't even need to turn around to find out who it was.

"Hey Green! Made a date with Granger did you?" Oh wonderful. Just what she needed, verbal abuse from Saint Malfoy. She turned around to look at his cruel smile staring down at her. Kayla was barely as tall as his chin and so when it came to standing up for herself, as she was very small for a fourth year, it was difficult to be taken seriously.

She took out her wand, knowing she will need it, and held it up.

"What you want now Daddy's boy?" She said, knowing how this was going to end, as always.

"Oh well is that how you want to play Greeny? That's not nice is it?" He said with a smirk. "I was hoping to just jinx you and leave, but you're being difficult today"

"Not much of a Gryffindor huh Green?" said Goyle, one of Malfoy's 'followers'.

"_Flipend - "_

"_Expelliarmus!" _Draco's wand flew out of his hand. Did that just come out of her mouth? Kayla was taken aback by her courage. Draco's pale grey eyes met her's and the fury in his eyes were unmistakeable. His eyes then looked behind her and she turned around.

Neville Longbottom was behind her with his wand ready. She felt relieved that he had arrived, even if he was just Neville. She wanted a witness when Draco ran away like the weakling he really was. She turned back to Draco and raised her eyebrows cockily.

"Looks like Greeny's got a body guard!" He said with too much confidence for Kayla's liking.

"Leave her alone Malfoy." Neville said, shaking slightly. Malfoy burst out laughing.

"What are you gonna do Longbottom? Huh? Once I'm done with Green, you'll be next. Go on Crabbe." Draco said with menace. Crabbe lifted his wand. Kayla closed her eyes, bracing impact.

"What the devil is going on here?" Kayla heard Professor McGonagall say. She opened her eyes to find McGonagall walking down the corridor towards her. Draco and his pack of dogs had expressions of pure acidity.

"Well Miss Green? Would you care to explain why Mr Malfoy's wand is on the other end of the hallway?" She said, raising her eyebrows with question.

"Erm… Well Professor… what happened was…" She looked towards Draco to see his face showed signs of unease, knowing she's going to tell the truth. She suddenly saw restlessness in his eyes, unaware of the outcome. She didn't know why he was so worried. It'll just be a measly detention at the most for harassing another student, so why did he look almost scared? She looked down to the ground.

"I saw Draco coming towards me… and I thought I would practice the Disarming charm on him. He only wanted to show me that he had perfected his Shield Charm. I don't know why I did it." She said through her teeth, knowing she would regret it later. She looked up to see McGonagall's stunned daze.

"Well, I'm surprised by your actions Miss Green. You know very well that magic is not permitted as a form of assault. I have no choice but to take 30 points away from Gryffindor." She said with disappointment. Kayla looked towards Draco to find an overwhelmed look. She thought he would be smirking like an idiot.

Draco must have looked how he felt. After the many years he had been causing her distress, he would never expect her to keep him from humiliation. He suddenly felt the worst feeling in the world.

Guilt.

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**Well there you go! Please leave me some criticism so I can improve my writing. Thank you!**

**~ writingtoinspire**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: All characters belong to J.K, minus Kayla.**

**So here's Chapter 2! Happy reading!**

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When Draco went back to the common room, he didn't know what to feel. Why had she done that? If that were him, he would have ratted her out straight away. He had always focused on making Kayla feel completely miserable and most of the time it worked. She had hardly any friends and he often sees her on her own, drawing in her strange notebook. He felt as if his stomach had suddenly been tied into a knot. Even though he had bullied Kayla since the first year, she still kept him from getting in trouble.

"Draco? Are you coming to eat?" Pansy said, smiling at him with adoration.

"Erm… no thanks Pansy. I think I'll stay here." Pansy's smile faded.

"Are you okay Draco?" She asked with a sugary sweetness in her voice that just made Draco flinch.

"Yeah I'm fine, you go and eat." He said, without a single hint of feeling.

"Oh, okay. I'll see you in Charms then."

Charms. Another class Draco had with Kayla. He would feel uncomfortable seeing her after what happened. Could he pretend he had a cold? No, Madame Pomfrey would see right through it. He couldn't avoid it. He would have to try and thank her for what she did, it seems like the right thing to do, but in private, of course. The last thing he wanted was to bring more attention to the situation.

When Draco got to Charms, he scanned the room to look for Kayla. There was no one in the room apart from him and a figure at the front of the class, head down and scribbling forcefully. Maybe he could talk to her before everyone else arrived. He began towards her when she spoke.

"What you want now?" She said. All of a sudden she wiped her eyes. Was she crying?

"Erm… I just wanted to say thank you for what you did earlier. I was also wondering why." He said with caution.

"I don't know. Okay? Now I would prefer to be left alone if you _don't_ mind." Her words were coated in hatred. Draco moved closer to see her face. She suddenly shut her book.

"What are you doing?" She looked at him. Her cheeks were wet and her eyes were red and still lined with tears. When she told him to go away, he just didn't have the heart to leave her alone. A wave of compassion flooded over him and he didn't know what to say. He just sat down next to her and handed her a slightly crumpled tissue from his pocket.

"Here. Professor Flitwick will arrive any minute and he'll most definitely ask what's wrong." He didn't know what else to do. Kayla looked uncertainly at the tissue.

"Where's your 'gang'? Surely you need people to back you up when you jinx me?" Her brow furrowed and she turned away from him.

"Just go. I don't what you're trying to do but I'm not fooled by the act. We both know how you really treat me, let alone Gryffindors in general. You're lucky I'm quiet about it." She opened her notebook again. Draco stood up to try and sneak a look at what she was doing. She slammed it shut and raised her wand. She looked towards him with ferocity burning within her eyes. All the softness he had seen earlier had completely disappeared.

"At least let me talk to you? I want to know what really happened. Why didn't you tell McGonagall? Are you planning to get back at me or something?" Kayla's face hindered slightly.

"Did you think I was like that? You think I would want to get back at you? I can see why you would think that, because of the grief and humiliation you have caused me, you would think that getting back at you would have been my main priority, but its not. Do you know why I didn't tell the truth? Because I could see your expression when you thought I was. I could see that you were scared of the consequences. That was enough for me to know that you will always be a coward Malfoy, maybe not on the outside, but always on the inside. So there, you know now and you can leave me alone. Just like every other person in this school." She gave him a long, challenging look and turned back to sit down. Draco looked at her and realised that he had always questioned her being in Gryffindor, but now he knows why. After all this time he and others overlooked it but the Sorting Hat didn't. She was brave, she was loyal and she had the heart of a lion after all.

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**Thank you for reading! I'll be uploading several chapters today so the next one should be up soon! ~ writingtoinspire**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters *sniff***

**Chapter threeeeeee. Read away!**

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Just then, Goyle, Crabbe and Pansy walked in.

"What are you doing talking to her?" Pansy said uneasily.

Draco hesitated. "Oh I –".

"Oh don't worry Pansy, he wasn't." Kayla shot Draco an icy look and turned back around.

"Come on Draco, lets go sit at the back, away from that thing over there." She said viciously. Draco gave her a concerned look and walked to the back of the classroom with his rambunctious friends.

Throughout the whole of charms, Kayla couldn't concentrate, and wand work was her speciality. It didn't require a method or any ingredients. Charms and Defence Against the Dark Arts was reassurance for her that she was a witch. Being muggleborn, she had always been doubtful of being magical. She had thought that her letter from Hogwarts was a joke from one of the kids in her class in primary school. The first time it had arrived, she threw it in the bin, convinced it was a prank. In her rage, she set her mother's favourite dress on fire, while she was still wearing it. The next day, another letter had arrived. After that, she had a bit more faith in herself, until her first Potions lesson. It made her feel like a muggle, still to this day, she has no idea what potions were which and the effects of them all. Wand work made her feel like herself and her mood reflected on her performance a lot of the time.

Today in particular, she was completely off her game. Her Disarming charm barely reached Neville.

"Are you all right Green? You seem out of practice." Professor Flitwick said. It was all Draco's fault. Why did he have to apologize? It just completely confused her. She needed to focus on Charms. But it her thoughts always went back to Draco. Why did he suddenly care about why she saved him from detention? Did he feel bad for her? Did he realise how wrongly he treated her? She knew that couldn't be it. He was a Slytherin after all. So what was his problem?

"Okay that's it class! Now remember to practice those incantations and I would like to see improvement next lesson. You are dismissed."

Kayla gathered up her many belongings and headed for the door. On her way out she dropped her notebook. Draco saw it and picked it up.

"She must have forgotten this. I'll return it to her." He thought.

On her way to the Gryffindor common room, she saw a shadow behind her. She turned round and saw Draco standing there. She sighed.

"What do you want now? Have you not caused me enough pain today?" She said icily.

"Well actually, you dropped your notebook in Charms and I thought I'd return it. Don't worry, I didn't read it." He said, giving a meaningful yet cautious look. He turned to leave.

"Thank you. For… not reading it." He turned round, to see half a smile appearing on her face. She looked down and her smile disappeared, feeling slightly embarrassed. She went to sit down on a bench. Draco watched her and slowly followed. He knew no one would see them because they're all in their common rooms.

He looked at her as he sat down. Kayla's cheeks turned a delicate shade of pink.

"Why did you return my notebook to me? Surely you would have looked in it and then made fun of me later?" She said suddenly, confused.

"Because I saw that it was private to you and if you don't want me to see what was in it, then I respect that." He said with a reassuring tone. Kayla looked down at her feet again. She didn't know what to say.

"So let me ask you something." She looked up again. Draco looked at her with curiosity.

"Are you friends with Longbottom and the rest of them?"

"Well, we talk and all that, but I'm not really friends with anyone. Its quite strange actually, this is probably the longest conversation I've had all year. I never thought it would be with you, to be perfectly honest. Thank you." She smiled a true, genuine smile. Draco felt as if invisible strings were pulling his stomach. He had never experienced that feeling before. He smiled back at her.

"Well I'm honoured." He said. Her smile got bigger, showing her perfect teeth. She looked down at her feet again, still smiling.

Suddenly she snapped her head up and looked down the hallway. Her smile had gone.

"Someone's coming." She said anxiously. Draco looked in the same direction as her. He could hear very faint steps approaching them. He stood up. Kayla looked up at him.

"But… will we speak again?" He said, trying to keep a level tone.

She wasn't sure. "Erm… You know about the room of Requirement right?" She said.

"Well… no."

"Okay, well meet me on the seventh floor then, after dinner. Make sure you're not followed. Now go. We'll talk later." She smiled. Draco's stomach pulled again. He made his way in the opposite direction to the footsteps, feeling something he had never felt before. Trust? True friendship? Guilt for causing her pain for all these years? He didn't have time to think about it now.

Kayla watched him leave and turned to see who was coming down the corridor. It was Hermione, Ron and Harry. She felt relief. At least it wasn't a Slytherin.

"Hey Kayla." Hermione said, smiling.

"Hi." She said, opening her notebook. Hermione and the other two slowed down as they walked past her and then stopped.

"Are you okay there? You seem a bit lonely." Harry said, concerned. She looked up into his emerald green eyes.

"Yes I'm fine thank you. I'm used to it." She gave him a small smile, looking down again. Harry looked at Ron and Hermione with worry.

"Well if you want, you can walk back to the common room with us?" He said.

"Erm… yeah okay." She said, standing and following them.

She trailed behind the whole way back to the common room. She didn't really make conversation with the three of them, even when they talked to her. She was still going over her's and Draco's brief conversation in her head and smiling to herself. Hermione looked behind and saw Kayla smiling.

"You alright there Kayla?" She said looking amused. Kayla looked at her.

"Yes, I'm good." She smiled.

When she got to the common room, she said good-bye to Hermione, Ron and Harry and ran up to her dormitory. She made sure Lavender and Parvati weren't in the dorm and then sat on her bed and grinned like a Cheshire cat. She just had to think about how she was going to get to the seventh floor without being seen. Kayla didn't want to admit it but… she couldn't wait.

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**So there you have it! Four should be up soon. Until then, stay awesome! ~ writingtoinspire**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: All characters belong to the wonderful Mrs Rowling.**

**Here it is! Enjoy my lovelies.**

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In the Great Hall, the students had gathered for dinner. In front of the teacher's table, a strange object stood. Once everyone was seated, Professor Dumbledore dimmed the lights and opened his mouth to speak. The whole hall fell silent.

"Good evening students! Before we begin our feast, we are hosting a very important and exciting event this year. This event has not been held for over a century. It is my very great pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year!"

The hall began to buzz and chatter. Kayla was intrigued. What was the Triwizard Tournament? Her question was about to be answered. Dumbledore cleared his throat. The hall quietened down.

"Some of you will not know what this tournament involves, so I Kayla those who do know will forgive me for giving a short explanation. The Triwizard Tournament was first established some seven hundred years ago as a friendly competition between the three largest European schools of wizardry: Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. A champion was selected to represent each school, and the three magical champions competed in three magical tasks. The schools took it in turns to host the tournament once every five years, and it was generally agreed to be a most excellent way of establishing ties between young witches and wizards of different nationalities – until, that is, the death toll mounted so high that the tournament was discontinued."

"Death toll?" Kayla thought. "Well that's convincing." Her thoughts dripped with sarcasm. Apparently this didn't worry many of the other students who were whispering away, excitedly.

"There have been several attempts over the centuries to commence the tournament again. However, the three headmasters think that it is time to attempt it again, and we have made sure that none of the champions find themselves in mortal danger. The heads of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving with their short-listed contenders in October, and the selection of the three champions will take place on Halloween. An impartial judge will choose which students are most worthy to compete for the Triwizard Cup, the glory of their school and a thousand Galleons personal prize money." Dumbledore announced. The whole hall erupted again into chatter and excitement, with many of the students looking interested considering the enormous prize at stake. Kayla still wasn't convinced, why risk your life for money and glory? It all seemed too much for her. Dumbledore began to speak again, bringing down the noise in the hall.

"Eager though I know all of you will be to bring the Triwizard Cup to Hogwarts, the heads of the participating schools, along with the Ministry of Magic, have agreed to impose an age restriction this year. Only students who are of age – that is to say, seventeen years or older – will be allowed to put forward their names for consideration."

There were shouts of outrage and fury, especially from the Weasley twins. Dumbledore raised his voice.

"This is a measure we feel is necessary, given that the tournament tasks will still be difficult and dangerous. I will personally be ensuring that no underage student hoodwinks our impartial judge into making him or her a Hogwarts champion. So please don't waste your time." His eyes moved towards the Weasley twins who were fuming.

"So, I want you to make our foreign guests feel at home and give your whole-hearted support to the chosen Hogwarts champion. Good luck to all who are entering, and let your feast begin!" He raised his hands and the vast gold plates on the four tables were filled with food of all sorts. Roast pork, mash, peas, sausages, brussell sprouts and many others. Kayla began to serve herself some mash, while she heard Hermione next to her.

"Oh Ronald, don't be so stupid. Dumbledore is being reasonable. Obviously the challenges are beyond a fourth years knowledge and skill, you can't blame him for wanting to keep his students safe." She sighed and poured herself some pumpkin juice.

"Yeah but c'mon Hermione! Imagine winning! A thousand Galleons! That's a lot of money!" Ron's eyes shifted towards Dumbledore who was deep in conversation with Hagrid. Hermione rolled her eyes. Kayla looked up towards the Slytherin table to see Draco was looking at her. He smiled and she felt a tug on her stomach. She smiled back. Crabbe started to talk to Draco and he looked away, giving her a quick warning look. She swiftly looked back down at her untouched food, and began to eat.

"Is that all you're having Kayla?" Hermione said, making her jump.

"Erm… yes, I'm not very hungry." She said with a quick smile, and carried on eating. Once she was finished, her plate vanished and in its place, was a bowl. In front of her, the gold plates replaced the leftovers with every glorious dessert you can think of. Trifle, chocolate pudding, apple pie, whatever you wanted, most likely, it was there. Kayla helped herself to a very creamy looking cheesecake, her favourite dessert. She ate that quickly as well, she was just too anxious to act normally. She looked at her watch. It was only quarter past seven and supper didn't finish until eight! She tried talking to Neville but that didn't really work because she was unsure of how to make small talk. Every five minutes she would look at her watch, wishing time would move faster, just for once, this one evening. Finally it was five to eight and she saw Dumbledore rise, bid the students good night and sent them to their common rooms. She suddenly felt as if her heart was trying to burst out of her chest.

"Am I sure about this? Can I really trust Malfoy? I'm sure one person can't change their attitude that quickly. Especially someone like Draco. I need to be careful about what I say tonight." She thought.

She started to make her way to the stairs when Neville caught up with her.

"Hi Kayla." She turned around to look up at his beaming face. He looked quite flustered, probably after trying to catch up with her at the rate she was walking.

"Oh, hi Neville." She gave him a half-hearted smile. She thought he was a good person and very sweet for backing her up earlier today, but right now all she could think about is how to get rid of him.

"Why are you going up the stairs? The common room is that way." His smile was dampened with slight confusion.

"Oh erm… I need t-to see Professor McGonagall." She stuttered. Neville looked at her with concern.

"What about?"

"Oh ju-just some erm… homework that I'm struggling with." She smiled, trying to look convincing.

"Oh… You're usually quite quick with your Transfiguration homework. Okay, well maybe I'll see you in the common room later then?" He looked eager. Kayla didn't know what to say. She didn't know how long she would be with Draco.

"Erm… yeah… sure." She smiled and carried on up the staircase. She was now late and practically jogging to the seventh floor. She hoped Draco hadn't waited and then given up and left.

She had finally got to the seventh floor and saw the tall, skinny, blonde haired boy sitting on a bench with his head looking down at his hands. He looked up and started to grin.

"Wow. He's actually looks glad to see me!" She thought as she returned the smile and walked towards him. Her stomach felt like a swarm of butterflies had just entered, leaving her anxious and excited at the same time. It was one of the most wonderful feelings in the world, and some how, she still tried to keep reserved. Just in case this is all a great big practical joke, she didn't want to rush into anything, but unfortunately, it seems too late.

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**Thank you for reading (that is, if anyone actually is reading this!)**

**Also, follow me on tumblr if you want! fangirlandproud. tumblr. com **

**Just remove the spaces! ~ writingtoinspire**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in the Potter Universe.**

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"I was worried you weren't going to show up." He grinned as he walked towards her.

"I was worried you had already left…" She looked up at his sweet, blushing face. "Neville stopped to talk to me for a little while and so if he asks, I'm going to see Professor McGonagall about homework." He nodded.

"Come on. I guess we better go or someone will see us." She walked down the hallway and Draco followed. They stopped in front of a plain wall.

"But… there's no room here?"

"Watch." Her eyes were lit up. She turned back to the wall and closed her eyes. A small, embellished door began to appear on the wall. Kayla's eyes opened again. She looked at Draco who was watching the door. She walked forward and opened the door. She looked behind her to see Draco was still staring.

"H-How? How did you do that?" She chuckled. She grabbed his wrist and pulled him inside. The interior was colossal. The floor was littered with canvases and paint pots. There were several easels holding half finished paintings while finished paintings were hung up around the room, making it look bright and friendly.

"Wow. Are these all yours?" He looked at her as she cleared the floor of dirty brushes and picked up canvases and lent them against the wall. She took off her robe and hung it on a nearby coat rack. Draco did the same.

"Yeah. I come here in most of my free time. I love to paint and draw. It allows me to create a different and magnificent world, no conflict or war. It calms me." Her face was radiant with happiness. Draco could see how much this mattered to her. He was inspired. She beamed; it felt like she had been holding back a smile for so long. The relief made her feel tranquil.

"Wow. She's actually pretty. I can't believe I've never noticed before." Draco thought. He suddenly felt quite nervous. He had never felt nervous in front of another girl before, but it was also the happiest he had ever felt, and it was all because of her.

"They're beautiful. I never would have guessed." He looked at the paintings on the walls. He was drawn to one in particular.

"Is that your family?" He pointed to a painting of a particular handsome looking young man. He was with a woman, a younger boy and a baby-faced Kayla; the woman was the only person in the picture that didn't have sapphire blue eyes. Besides that, she was the spitting image of Kayla. Her russet brown hair was long and wavy, very similar to Kayla's, and she had a charming smile on her face. He turned to Kayla. She looked at the painting. Her eyes glazed over and suddenly seemed very distant. She wandered over to the painting, and she gazed at it for a long time. She turned to him. She smiled weakly.

"Yes, that them." She laughed feebly and turned away and started moving canvases off the floor again. Draco saw that Kayla had swiftly become more tensed.

"Are you all right? He walked towards her. When he went to see her face, he saw her eyes were lined with tears. His heart sank.

"What's wrong? Do you miss them?" She looked at him with sorrow.

"Y-Yes. So much, it's almost unbearable. It's my brother's birthday today. He would have been twenty one actually."

Draco was confused. "Would have been…?"

"I copied that from a photo my mother gave me. That's her with my father, brother, Liam, and I. That picture was taken when my brother was ten and I was four. When my brother was thirteen years old, some boys at his school would pick on him. He was like me; isolated, had no friends. He was seen as the outsider, the one who didn't belong. One day, the boys were pushing him around, they took it too far and… they pushed him into a road... at that moment, a car was driving past at quite a fast rate and knocked my brother over." She took a deep breath, trying to compose herself. "He spent two days in hospital and he suffered from… internal bleeding. He p-passed away in his sleep." Her words felt as if they were strangling her. "My mother gave me that photo after his funeral. When they lowered his body into the grave, it hit me that I would never see him again and something just over came me and I started shaking. I stormed out of the church once the service was over to seek revenge. I just wanted to make those boys feel how I felt, that I had lost someone I grew up with, he was my best friend, and I was his. I walked over to the 'leader's' house and as soon as he opened the door, he could tell he had it coming for him. I gave him a long, hard glare and then I punched him in the face… hard. My mum took me home without an apology. A couple of days later, I saw him again and turns out I had given him quite a serious black eye, despite my age and size. I have wished everyday that my brother was still alive and that he knew about my magical talents… and now he never will, but I know he would be so proud of me. Ever since that day, I've just separated myself from everyone and that way I never feel like I would loose someone special again, because I would have had no one to start with." She turned away from the painting. The tears were falling hard and fast from her eyes by now. She may have revealed too much but she couldn't help it, but it felt good that someone knew other than her family now.

Draco would not have imagined that Kayla's childhood was that painful. He thought she just didn't warm to people but really she prevents herself from hurt by not letting anyone new into her life. She didn't deserve this. She was a good natured, honest and genuine person and her and her family was being punished for doing absolutely nothing. Suddenly Draco was angry. He felt this need to protect her from being hurt this way ever again. He didn't know what to do. Dare he befriend her and face public humiliation or ignore her in his fellow classmate's company and let her suffer miserably? His choice isn't easy but he knew something.

He had fallen for her. Feeling the need to be with her, protect her and comfort her? It was so overwhelming but he was willing to do it.

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**Please review! It helps me improve my writing and then I can make this fan fiction better for you guys ~ writingtoinspire**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this fan fiction, apart from Kayla.**

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Kayla looked at Draco, who was looking at the ground, deep in thought. She could feel her cheeks heating up. Why did she just tell him that? Now he'll probably tell everyone he knows. Why hasn't he said anything yet?

"Oh god, its too weird. He's had such a luxurious and pain-free upbringing that the thought of loosing a loved one is too much for him." She thought, panicking. Draco approached her. He had a comforting aura about him. He walked towards her, took his thumb and wiped her tears from her face. He looked down at her.

"I didn't know your brother but I know he would have been immensely proud. However, I can also tell he wouldn't want this particular event to restrict you from experiencing some of the great things in life, by shutting yourself off from the world… and neither do I." Her heart skipped a beat.

"He wasn't pretending! He really is my friend." She looked up into his glimmering grey eyes. She smiled at him, feeling like someone finally understood the pain she felt everyday. He took her and hand, and squeezed it tight, making sure she knew he was there for her. Kayla wanted to stay like this forever, but she knew that could never happen. She knew about Lucius Malfoy's absolute hatred for muggle-borns. If he knew about her's and Draco's friendship, she didn't even know what he would do, let alone say. She didn't want to cause problems between Draco and his father.

"Maybe its best if we weren't friends." She thought, looking down at Draco's hand, still entwined with her's. She took her hand back almost too quickly. Draco's smile left his face.

"What's wrong?" He said.

"I-I don't think this is right. You're a Slytherin. I'm a Gryffindor. You're a pureblood. I'm muggle-born. We're just too different to be friends. I'm sorry." She looked up at his now pain-stricken face.

"Friends." The word rang in his ears. She only wanted to be friends.

"Draco, you're father would slaughter you if he found out."

"So maybe he doesn't have to know?" His mouth turned into a mischievous grin, to hide his hurt.

"I thought you were only friends with purebloods?" She looked serious. Draco's smile disappeared from his face again.

"Kayla. I don't care what anyone else thinks. You are nothing like my friends. You're so much better. I know I can be honest with you and when you told me about your brother, it showed me that you can trust me and I can trust you too. We can keep our-" He took a deep breath. "-friendship… secret and we could meet here. I want to learn more about you. What you like, what you dislike, your life in the muggle world… If my father finds out, I will deal with him. You have no reason to worry." He looked at her, hoping he had convinced her.

"Please?" He said pleadingly.

"I don't know…" She said, looking at him. He had longing in his eyes. She sighed and she couldn't deny; he had convinced her.

"Oh… okay, but if your father finds out, I know I'll just feel terrible!" She sighed. She couldn't imagine her parents getting angry over the people she becomes friends with. They were very accepting of her abnormality and they embraced it as well. When she received her Hogwarts letter, she was completely speechless, but her parents couldn't help but praise and congratulate her. They were so proud of her and if they could, they would have told everyone they knew. She felt bad for him.

Draco couldn't help but feel pure happiness. He felt that the more he spent time with Kayla, the more he felt himself that ever before, and what his father thinks wasn't going to stop him.

"So is this going to be our official meeting place?" He said beaming, excited at the thought of spending time with Kayla everyday.

"If you want." She grinned. "I could paint a picture of you? It might be an interesting project. I'm tired of painting scenery."

"Of course! I want to see you're beautiful art first hand."

"Okay then, and I was wondering if you would be able to tutor me in Potions?" Kayla knew she had a study session with Hermione but she would honestly rather learn from Draco, he just seems more fun to work with.

"Really? I thought you would have asked that Know-It-All Granger?" Draco smirked. That took her aback.

"Draco, I'd prefer you didn't insult my fellow Gryffindors in front of my face. Its all very well that you have this strange rivalry with Harry, Ron and Hermione but I would feel like you would be complaining about them to me and after all, they are my acquaintances… sort of. It… just doesn't seem fair." Her eyes were sincere and she was biting on her lip ever so slightly.

"Was she serious?" He wondered.

"But I thought you 'distanced yourself' from people? I thought I was your only friend?" He said. Kayla lowered her head.

"They may not be… _close_ friends but they are in my house. You can't expect me to not feel offended when someone insults an… acquaintance of mine. It's the same thing as me mocking one of your Slytherin friends. Surely you would feel irritated?" She frowned and folded her arms, waiting for an answer. Draco sighed and smiled.

"She's so cute when she's angry." He thought.

Kayla dropped her arms. "What are you smiling at?" She asked, raising her eyebrow.

"You're so cu-funny when you're angry." He chuckled.

"I am not!" She said defiantly. "I could jinx you right here right now!"

"But you won't, because you don't really want to fight." Draco cockily raised his eyebrow. She glared at him, because she knew it was true but she hated being proven wrong.

"Aw come on Kayla, you can't stay angry at me." He grinned. Kayla kept her glare fixed on him, to justify her point. It was easier being angry before, when they weren't friends.

"Alright, will you forgive me if I tutor you?" He reached for her hands, stuck out his lip and made his eyes bigger, like a puppy. She could help but giggle.

"He looks so cute." She thought. She sighed.

"Okay fine." She grinned. Draco looked into her eyes, past the enticing blue irises, and he saw pure goodness, trust and understanding. There was no sign of truly hateful feelings at all. It was the first time he had ever seen her like that. It made him think of how he seemed the absolute opposite when he wasn't around her. He suddenly thought of how much more difficult he made her life, by taunting and mocking her at any chance he got. He had always seen her in pain and hurt… all because of him. It made him hate himself so much more than he had ever hated anyone before, even Potter.

He closed his eyes and lowered his head. Kayla's smile vanished.

"What's wrong?" She sounded worried. Draco opened his eyes and looked at her. There were tears in them.

"I'm so sorry Kayla. I caused you so much pain. The way I bullied you. I made your life so difficult and all because I was a brainless git! I will never forgive myself." He squeezed his eyes shut and felt one solitary tear leave his eye. He didn't want to see Kayla's reaction.

Kayla could not believe what she was hearing.

"He apologized! A proper sincere apology!" She didn't know what to say. She reached out one hand and lifted his chin so that he was looking at her again.

"Draco, I've forgiven you, and you've made up for it." She wiped his tear away. Before she could think about her actions, she wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head on his shoulder. She closed her eyes, wondering how he would respond to this sudden gesture. He hesitated for a moment. She felt his arms enclose around her shoulders and he rest his head on hers. Kayla felt relieved he accepted her this close to him.

The way she just fit perfectly in his arms, made him think if they were made for each other. He quickly brushed the thought from his mind.

"She just wants to be friends. If I mention anything more, I might scare her off. I'd prefer we were friends than nothing at all."

Draco closed his eyes.

"You're very short, did you know that?" Kayla lifted her head and raised her eyebrow. He grinned smugly.

"That may be true, but I can still kick your arse in a duel." She confidently grinned. Draco chuckled.

"Well played." She chuckled too, feeling triumphant.

"I wish we could stay like this forever." He thought. They stood there for a moment, in each other's arms.

Kayla looked up at the clock that was hung up on the wall opposite her.

"We'd better get going if we want to get back to our common rooms without being caught by Filtch, or any other teacher for that matter." She let go of Draco's waist; he released his grip and lowered his arms. His heart sunk a little. She turned round and put some paint pots on the shelves that seemed to have appeared on the wall behind them. Draco went to help her. Once the floor was cleared from the scattered paint pots, Kayla put on her robe and walked out, followed by Draco. Just as she shut the door, it began to disappear.

"By the way," Draco said. Kayla turned to face him. "If you tell anyone I cried, I will have to hex you into the next millennium." Draco said as he raised his eyebrow. Kayla chuckled.

"I couldn't even if I wanted to." Draco smiled.

"I guess I'll see you here same time tomorrow? We can start on your new painting, and some tutoring as well?" He looked down at her. Kayla smiled and nodded.

"Okay. See you then." She turned to leave. Draco watched her go down the hallway. As she turned the corner, she looked up and gave him a reassuring smile. He smiled back, feeling comforted by the fact that he would be spending time with her again. He looked down at his feet once she left, his smile stretching like an elastic band across his face. He couldn't help it. She was the one person that made him smile like that, and his other 'friends' have definitely never made him grin like a madman before. What the worst part was that he couldn't tell her how he really felt without driving her out of his life completely.

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**Thank you for reading and please review. I would really appreciate the feedback. ~ writingtoinspire**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: These character belong to Queen Rowling, not me.**

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Kayla hadn't encountered any teachers or Filtch on her way back to the common room. When she got back, the embers of the previously lit fire were still glowing, and there was only one person left in the room. Neville turned his head swiftly and stood up. He gave Kayla a welcoming smile. Kayla was still giddy with happiness from her previous meeting with Draco to notice. She looked up and her smile faded slightly.

"Oh Neville, you're still awake? I'd have thought everyone would have been asleep by now." She looked at him dubiously.

"Oh well I thought that you had gotten caught up for being out of bed and I wanted to make sure you erm… came back okay." He blushed and looked at his shifting feet.

"Oh that's sweet of you, thank you." She gave him a small smile. "I think I'll head off to bed, its pretty late."

Neville nodded. He bit his lip. "Okay, good night."

He smiled at her. Kayla made her way towards the girl's dormitories.

"That was strange… Neville hasn't really acted like that before. I wonder what the problem is." She thought as she made her way into her fairly tidy dorm that she shared with Parvati Patil, Lavender Brown, as well as Hermione. All of them were asleep, which made it easier for Kayla to sneak in without questioning. The other two girls were never very interested in Kayla; they were too busy gossiping about almost every person in their year that wasn't right in front of their face. She wouldn't be too surprised if she was a prime subject of their discussions, but she couldn't care less. She couldn't stop smiling, it's as if someone had put a hook on either side of her mouth and pulled until she looked slightly deranged.

"Had Draco really been threatening to jinx me only this morning?" She thought. It had all gone by so quickly; she barely had time to think it over.

"Well I guess that's what sleep is for." She thought as she got herself ready for bed. She knew she wouldn't be getting much of it tonight, but it was good to relax a bit after today. She crawled under her heavy blanket and finally fell asleep at about 2 o'clock in the morning, after going over her's and Draco's meeting in her head several times over.

For the next few weeks, Draco and Kayla would meet up every evening. Kayla would sketch Draco in a sitting position with his Potion book in his hand, and he would teach and test her on the vital information she had to know while she did this. It was a wonderful way for Draco to learn about Muggles as well. He had always thought of them as scum, it was all he knew, having been brought up by his father who was, of course, drilling these ideas in his head. His father would tell him about how it would be better for the Muggles' wellbeing if they were kept secret. Ever since, his opinion had been clearly marked out for him, but hearing Kayla talk about her family and odd lifestyle made him think differently. They didn't sound as bad as his father had made them out to be, and he had never met one so he had never had a second opinion. He wanted to meet her parents and get to know them better as well. They seemed intriguing and very much like Kayla.

Kayla was slowly but surely, getting better at Potions. She had cancelled with Hermione after explaining that she thinks it might be easier if she actually did it on her own. She couldn't help but feel bad for not giving her an explanation as to why she cancelled but if she told her why, she knew Hermione would completely be against her meeting up with Draco.

Before either of them knew it, it was October. On the evening of the thirtieth, Dumbledore had said more than a couple of words before their dinner.

"Your attention please!" He waited for the conversation to stop. "Please join me in welcoming the lovely ladies of the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and their headmistress, Madame Maxime!" As he spoke, the double doors opened and about two-dozen young women dressed in pale blue dresses strutted down the middle of the Great Hall, heads held high as if they were better than everyone else. Kayla hated those sorts of girls; they never seem friendly or approachable. The headmistress followed after them. She was about 10 feet tall, certainly much taller than Rubeus Hagrid, the gamekeeper, and Kayla thought _he_ was tall.

Once they were seated, Dumbledore held up his hands and spoke again.

"And now, our friends from the North, please meet the proud sons of Durmstrang and their high master, Igor Karkaroff." Again, the double doors swung open and the same amount of young men immerged, all wearing brown and carrying staffs, which they used to strike the ground with every step. They too seemed very sure of themselves. When they got to the middle of the hall, they dropped their staffs and ran to the front where Dumbledore stood, and is if out of nowhere, dragons made of fire were circling the room. It was definitely a better display than the Beauxbatons girls, which was for sure. Igor Karkaroff wasn't a pleasant looking man, and it wasn't just his looks. His mouth was turned into a frown that seemed to permanent, even when he greeted Dumbledore. Behind Igor Karkaroff, followed a fairly tall boy that, in Kayla's opinion, resembled a potato. The whole hall burst into rushed whispers.

"Is that him? It can't be!" said Ron. His eyes narrowed, and then widened with recognition. "It is!"

"Who?" said Hermione.

"Victor Krum!"

"Who the hell is that?" thought Kayla.

"Victor Krum, who we saw in the summer, at the World Cup?" Harry asked.

"Yes! Bloody hell! I can't believe he's here! The best seeker in the world is at Hogwarts!" Ron whispered frantically.

"Well that answers my question." Kayla rolled her eyes and chuckled to herself. Ron reminded her of how her father acts when he talks about football. The whole family supported Manchester United but had not gone to a single game. Kayla thought it was a silly thing to get excited over but apparently most of the hall was in the same state as Ron, including the Slytherins, who were usually above looking like the rest of the students. She glanced at Draco who had not stopped looking at Krum with his mouth slightly open. She chuckled again. Draco looked at her, as if he had heard her, and saw her amused face and blushed. She put her hand on her mouth to stop herself from laughing out loud. Draco had looked so star struck. It was even more entertaining for Kayla to watch almost every girl apart from her and Hermione fawn over him, as if he was so 'gorgeous'. Hermione looked at Kayla and nudged her. Kayla looked over to where Hermione was pointing. Lavender and Parvati were fanning themselves with adoration. Kayla's laugh escaped. She clamped her mouth with her hand before the whole hall heard it.

Igor greeted Dumbledore and the feast was about to start when there was a bolt of lightening. Kayla looked up. The enchanted ceiling had clouded over. There was a thunderclap and from the corner of her eye, she saw a figure step out from the corner near the teacher's table. There was a flash of light from a wand and the clouds cleared. Kayla looked towards the teacher's table to find the source of the light and saw a stocky man, completely drenched, limping with a staff towards Dumbledore. He had a fairly gruff face, covered in scars and his right eye was replaced with a rather shifty looking glass eye. He shook Dumbledore's hand and sat down at the end of the long table, next to Hagrid.

"Students, I forgot to mention that we have a new teacher. Alastor Moody, the auror, will be your new Defence against the Dark Arts professor. I hope you will make him feel welcome here."

"I'll be surprised if anyone approaches him, let alone welcome him" Kayla thought. Moody's glass eye was scanning the room swiftly, as if it was analyzing every living and breathing thing.

Dumbledore lifted his hands and the gold platters filled themselves with food. Kayla helped herself to some pasta bake while she listened to Ron talk about Krum.

"Do you reckon Krum will be chosen for the tournament? Where'd you think they're staying? Should we ask for an autograph? Or would that look desperate?" Hermione and Harry could barely get a word in edgeways. Kayla couldn't help but think that it was all a bit strange, getting worked up over some guy that Ron had never met before. What if he had an awful personality? Would Ron still be obsessing over him then?

Once the feast was over, Kayla could feel a slight knot forming in her stomach. Why was she nervous? She had hung out with Draco for several weeks and she felt fine. Why now? Was it the anticipation? She had never felt that before. It was a different feeling to having butterflies. It was almost as if she was more anxious than excited. Oddly, she didn't like the feeling. Was she worried about whether Draco was still pretending?

Kayla often had these interior debates. It was always a head versus heart kind of situation, and she always seemed to go with what her head says. Which, in this case, was to be cautious of Draco, and not to get too attached to the friendship.

"Perhaps I should consult my heart for once." She thought as she made her way to the seventh floor, her stomach still twisting.

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**I hope you enjoyed this chapter! The next one will be up as soon as possible. ~ writingtoinspire**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I didn't create these wonderful characters, apart from Kayla.**

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Draco walked towards to the seventh floor, to his and Kayla's usual meeting place. He was still shocked that the best seeker in the world was under the same roof as him. He couldn't wait to meet him. He arrived at the bench where he would usually sit and wait.

Meanwhile, Kayla was making her way over to the meeting place, thinking about the Tournament.

"Why would anyone risk their life for money? It sounds a lot to sacrifice for just a prize." She thought as she turned a corner. She saw Draco sitting and waiting as usual.

As she made her way down towards him, he looked up and gave her the smile that always makes her stomach flip. She smiled back ad they both made their way to the Room of Requirement, wordlessly.

Once they were inside, Kayla proceeded to the fully sketched canvas that now needed colour to bring it to life. As she studied her work in progress, Draco walked over and stood behind her. He smirked.

"You're quiet today, should I be worried?" She bent her head and chuckled. She turned to face him and looked up into his grey irises.

"No I'm fine. Just thinking." She turned and sat on the stool in front of the painting, which was an indicator for Draco to sit in position. Draco wasn't sure if he wanted to know what she was thinking. It was always something beyond his understanding. Once he sat down, he picked up his Potions book.

"Actually, could we skip Potions tutoring today?" She asked as she picked up her desired brush and colour of paint. He nodded.

"Okay so yesterday you told me about this form of muggle transport called a train. Now what makes it move?" He looked over to see Kayla's face filled with concentration.

"Well there are different types of trains that use different fuels to move. Some are steam powered, some are powered by electricity and some use diesel fuel."

"Okay," He dragged the word out, still absorbing what she had just said. "So they just put it in the train and it moves?"

"Well it's more complicated than that, there's an engine, which converts the fuel to make the train move. That's my knowledge of it, you will have to research if you want to know about the mechanics of it." Draco nodded in agreement. He was trying to keep up with all the Muggle information but it was hard. How Kayla keeps track of it all, as well as the wizarding side, he'll never know.

He looked at her again. He studied every single detail on her complexion. His eyes traced her heart-shaped face, her jaw line, her perfectly curved lips that were slightly pursed with concentration and her tiny button nose. Overall she was a very petite person, she wasn't just lacking in height. He kept her eyes for last. They were his favourite feature. They always reflected her mood, for example right now they were motionless and the blue was stunning, like the water of a still lake. Just as he was falling into a trance, her eyes lifted and looked straight into his. He was now fully aware that she saw him looking at her.

"What are you looking at?" She said, clearly amused at his sudden disorientation. He opened his mouth slightly, while thinking of an excuse.

"Err no-nothing." He moved his focus to his Potions book and felt his cheeks heat up. He heard her chuckle. He smirked. They remained in silence for a good hour before Draco spoke again.

"Do you know what I've just realized?" Kayla looked at him again, the amusement still very obvious on her face.

"We don't know each other's birthdays!"

"Really Draco?" She said sarcastically.

"What? Its true. Mine's on the 5th of June." She chuckled.

"You really surprise me sometimes"

"How is that surprising?"

"Well I was thinking you were going to say something along the lines of 'Do you know what I just realized? We have an essay for McGonagall due tomorrow'." She said, speaking in a deep voice to mimic him.

"I don't sound like that." He paused for a moment. "We don't have an essay due do we?" Draco said, sounding slightly worried. She giggled again and he smiled. She had the most beautiful laugh. It was so melodious, like music to his ears. The fact that he was able to make her do that was a wonderful feeling.

"No, it was just an example."

"Do I really talk about school that much?" He raised his eyebrow. She nodded.

"You sound like Hermione sometimes! There are more similarities between you too than you think." He scowled.

"Urgh, I would never want to anything like that filthy blooded, Gryffindor Granger" He shook his head, disgusted that she would mention such a thing.

Kayla's body froze. "Only a few moments ago he was learning about Muggles and now that! How dare he!" She could feel her eyes filling with angry tears. She stood up and started clearing away the unfinished portrait, too angry to paint anything anymore, especially him. Draco watched her clear up. What has gotten into her?

Once she finished clearing up, she stood with her back to him, her hands balling up into fists. He made his way over to her to see if she was okay.

"Are you okay?" She turned to see him. Her tears were running down her cheeks while her eyes were filled with complete anger. His stomach lurched.

"You tell me Draco. If you don't know, then I was wrong."

"Wrong about what?" He was completely puzzled. She looked at him for a moment, her eye's burning.

"You."

"What are you –" The comment about Granger. "Oh Kayla I'm sorry. I didn't think you were such good friends with Granger. I take back what I said. I'm sorry." Kayla couldn't believe it. He had no idea!

"I thought you were clever? _Think_ for minute about what you said." She said, looking angrier than ever.

Draco didn't know what else to do! Why was she getting so upset over some stupid comment? He stood there looking at her, for any sort of hint. Nothing.

"I was wrong." She whispered. "I thought you had changed." She walked towards the door and grabbed her cloak and walk out. Draco ran after her.

"Kayla don't leave! Please! I don't know what to do!" He said desperately.

She stopped walking halfway down the hall and whipped round. Her face wasn't as angry anymore, but it was showing signs of sadness.

"I understand you have your rivalries with Harry, Ron and Hermione. I know you'll find every chance to insult them in one way or another, but recently you haven't been and I thought maybe he cared a little bit more about my feelings than I thought."

"But I do! I do care!"

"If you cared then you wouldn't have said the words 'filthy blooded Gryffindor'. I thought your views of muggleborns was changing, but again, I was wrong" That's when Draco realized his mistake. How could he have been so stupid?! He had completely forgotten that Kayla's parents were muggles.

"I can't believe I was dumb enough to trust you." Her eyes welled up again. She turned to walk away when she felt Draco's warm hand on her wrist.

"Kayla please –" His voice was softer, almost pleading.

"Stay away from me Draco." She said, her heart breaking in the process.

She took her arm out of his grasp and walked quickly down the hallway to the staircase. She waited until she got to her dorm to let her guard down. The hot tears fell down her soft cheeks as she slipped into her pyjamas. Why had she been so upset? She could have easily not cared at all, being called filthy blooded several times before. So why did she care? That was when it dawned on her; she had fallen for him, and the thought of him thinking of her or any of her family as 'filthy' had hurt her more than any hex he'd ever used on her.

She shouldn't have trusted him. She shouldn't have been so naïve. She shouldn't have listened to her heart.

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**Please review, and thank you for reading! ~ writingtoinspire**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this story, minus Kayla.**

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The next day was Halloween and luckily, a Saturday. The whole school was buzzing about the choosing of the champions in the evening, and most people spent the day in the Great Hall, where all the house tables had been removed and the Goblet of Fire stood in the middle with a line going around the outside of it, that looked like it was made of silver. Throughout the day, students that were of age excluding the Weasley twins, were inserting their names into the Goblet. Unfortunately for them, Fred and George thought brewing an Ageing potion would fool the Age line. It definitely did not work in their favour, for several minutes later they rushed into the Hospital Wing with rather suspicious-looking, grey beards growing on their horrified faces.

While the whole school was in the Hall, Kayla was in the common room, working on her Summoning Charm. She wanted to act as though everything was normal, even though she had only two hours of sleep the night before. She was trying to summon a cushion from one of the armchairs. She had mastered it completely, but the idea of going into the Hall and potentially facing Draco when she was still fuming wasn't a great idea. Although… she did need to work on her Stunning Spell and she could use a target, but it wouldn't be a good idea to attack him for no reason, no matter how much she wanted to. That was only one part of her though, the other part wanted desperately to forgive him and carry on as they were before. Having recently discovered feelings other than friendship for Draco, she had put up even more defences in order to try and forget about him. So far, she wasn't succeeding.

Hermione seemed to have notice a change in Kayla's attitude (she's able to detect things like that, to Kayla's disadvantage) and even though they weren't the best of friends, she still wanted to know what was wrong and if there was anything she could do to help. She left the Hall after lunch and made her way towards the common room.

When she got there, she saw Kayla, her face etched with concentration.

"Accio!" She said. The cushion flew into her readied hands. She gave a small smile before returning the cushion to try again. Hermione cleared her throat. Kayla looked at her. She smiled, but it didn't meet her eyes.

"Hey Hermione, I thought you were at lunch?"

"I was but I thought I'd come to keep you company." She walked over and sat on an armchair opposite her.

"Oh you didn't have to. I'm just trying to perfect my Summoning charm." She shifted her concentration back to the cushion. They both stayed silent until Kayla uttered the incantation again, causing the cushion to fly back into her arms, just as she had done before.

"Looks like you've pretty much perfected it. Why don't you get something to eat?" Hermione said. Kayla smiled, and sat down in an armchair next to her.

"Thanks but I'm not very hungry." Her smile wavered as she stared into the empty fireplace. Hermione watched her carefully. She seemed out of sorts, as if there was a spark missing. Hermione knew that they weren't exactly close but she could see a change in an instant and it wasn't a good one. Before she could ask what was going on, Kayla spoke.

"So who's put their name in the Goblet so far?"

"Oh no one particularly surprising, apart from Cedric Diggory in the year above." Kayla raised her eyebrows.

"He's in the Hufflepuff Quidditch team isn't he? Seeker?" Hermione nodded.

"Well, that's odd. I never struck him as the 'eternal glory' type." Kayla said.

"Yes well if a thousand Galleons is involved, I don't think anyone would refuse." Kayla thought about that for a moment.

"I would." She looked at Hermione, who was smiling slightly at the confession.

"Me too. It's not worth risking my life for." Kayla smiled again, the warmth still not reaching her eyes. "That's what I thought." She looked back towards the fireplace. She hadn't had a proper conversation with Hermione before, just a few words every now and then.

"It's a wonder she's even bothering to talk with me." She thought. A comfortable silence settled over the two girls. Draco's voice sprung to Kayla's mind.

_He wouldn't want this particular event to restrict you from experiencing some of the great things in life, by shutting yourself off from the world… and neither do I._

Maybe this was what he was talking about. The fact that this was the only proper conversation she had had with Hermione in the four years they've known each other, suggests that maybe she has been shutting herself off from the world.

The door swung open and Ron, Harry and Neville walked in. They made their way over to the two girls. Harry and Neville chose the floor while Ron grabbed the armchair opposite Hermione.

"Hey guys. What you talking about?" Harry said, casting a kind look at them.

"Oh nothing much, just about the Tournament." Hermione said, giving him a smile back. Kayla watched them interact. They seemed like they were silently conversing just through the looks they were giving each other. Is that what a solid friendship was like? She looked at Ron who was glancing at a Quidditch magazine and Neville seemed to be looking at her strangely.

"What?" She said, amused. Neville blushed.

"Oh erm…uh n-nothing." He looked down. Draco's face flashed before her eyes, as he too said that when she caught him looking at her yesterday. She felt a surge of pain in her chest as she recalled his disorientated expression.

"No! You're not supposed to be missing him!" She thought to herself.

"Have you eaten anything today Kayla?" Harry said, concern flashed over his face.

"Oh not you too." Kayla thought. "No I'm not hungry." She smiled weakly at him. Harry's concerned look lingered for a moment before turning to talk to Ron. Hermione turned to observe Kayla again. She had bags forming underneath her eyes, and her smile was using up more effort than it should, but what unnerved Hermione the most was her eyes; they weren't the stunning sapphires that they used to be. They were a dull blue-grey, and so very hollow. She had never seen Kayla look this detached. Everyone tends to loose their focus but this... this was completely unnatural behaviour.

Hermione needed to talk to her, in private.

While Kayla was in the common room, Draco was down in the Hall, watching the all the students much older than him enter into the competition, including many boys from his own house. He got no sleep last night, going through their argument in his mind, over and over, replaying her angry and hurt face. He felt as though he could physically feel her pain, it wasn't that he understood what he was going through, but he actually felt his heart was shrivelling up when he saw her so upset and angry. The only other time he had felt that way was on their first meeting, when she told him all about her brother. Although, this was much worse, because he knew that he caused the tears, the hurt. He loathed himself, more than he had ever done before. He was desperately hoping that she would come to the Hall, even if it was for a second, just so he could see her face, and perhaps even find a way to apologize again. It may not make a difference but he had to try. More than anything, he wanted her to forgive him and make her see that he was sincerely sorry.

"Maybe if I go back to the Room of Requirement tonight, she'll show up. It's where her paintings are after all, she has to go back sometime." He thought.

That evening, the whole school and the chosen students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang sat in the Hall for the Halloween feast. There were gigantic pumpkins floating near the ceiling, the Hall was decorated with the usual live bats and skeletons. Everyone was eager with anticipation with the choosing of the three champions. Kayla was almost dragged to the Hall by Hermione, who would much rather have a sandwich in her dormitory than go to the glorious feast and face Draco. The excuses were endless; she complained that she hadn't had much sleep (which was partly true) and that she wasn't feeling well. She also mentioned that she needed to work on some homework that McGonagall had set. Hermione wouldn't hear any of it.

"Come on Hermione, I'm really not feeling that well." Kayla whined as they walked down to the feast. Hermione sighed.

"What are you trying to avoid Kayla?" She turned to look at her with those knowing hazel eyes. Harry and Ron stopped, realising that the two girls had stopped.

"Guys, go ahead, I need to talk to Kayla." Hermione said, her gaze never leaving Kayla's face. Ron went to ask why, but Harry stopped him, giving him a warning look before carrying on towards the Hall.

"What- "

"I've noticed you've been acting differently Kayla, since the beginning of the year. You were happier than usual, which is great, and you talked to me more than usual. I know we're not that close but I still consider you a good friend. But since yesterday you've been completely detached from everyone. You've hardly left the common room. Can you please explain what's going on?" Kayla was speechless. Hermione looked so sincere, her eyes filled with trust and kindness. Kayla couldn't understand why she cared so much, but she couldn't lie to her anymore.

"Okay, I'll tell you, but not now. In our room later?" Hermione simply nodded.

Draco was sitting on the Slytherin table, along with his best friend Blaise Zabini and his cronies. He kept looking at the doors, waiting and hoping that he'd see her. He saw Potty and Weasel walk in, followed by Longbottom and Finnegan. Where was she? Where was Granger?

"Draco?" He whipped his head round, eyes wide. Blaise was watching him with an inquiring look.

"What are you looking at?" He said, raising his eyebrow.

"Oh erm, nothing." He looked towards the Head table, feeling Blaise's stare burning the side of his face. He heard the doors of the Hall close and Dumbledore stood up to allow the feast to begin. The plates filled with the usual extravagant food.

Kayla didn't even want to eat the shepherd's pie, and it was her favourite. Why wasn't she hungry? She hadn't eaten all day, she should be ravenous. She could feel Hermione's worried gaze on her. She took some mashed potato to humour her, but all she really did was play with it. More than anything she wanted to look at him, but she knew she shouldn't. She was using every fibre in her being to stop herself from looking up at the Slytherin table.

Draco wasn't so persistent. As soon as the food appeared, he looked towards the Gryffindor table and sure enough, there she was. She was looking down and playing with the food on her plate, her mind clearly in a different place. She had dark circles forming underneath her eyes, which showed she definitely hadn't had any sleep. He needed to apologize her; he couldn't see her like this any longer. He helped himself to the rich food in front of him.

Blaise followed Draco's gaze and saw that it met the Green girl from the Gryffindor table. Why was he so interested in her? That was odd for Draco. The only time he would look over to the Gryffindor table would be to sneer and make fun of the 'pathetic blood traitors and mudbloods'. Now that he thought about it, he hadn't heard Draco say 'mudblood' in quite a while. Blaise was one of the quieter boys in his house, but unlike the others, he was extremely observant. That is why he remained quiet, he didn't want people to realise he was watching them and most of the time, he was judging them. While all the boys in his year had strong beliefs against muggle-borns and half bloods, he wasn't so extreme.

The main course had been polished off and replaced with every sweet, pudding and pastry you could think of. The house-elves had really outdone themselves today. Kayla helped herself to a small slice of cheesecake, but even after two bites she felt sick. She resumed to playing with it, her mind wondering, mainly to Draco and her potential friendship with Hermione.

Dumbledore stood once the plates were emptied.

"Well, the goblet is almost ready to make its decision, I estimate that it requires one more minute. Now, when the champions' names are called, I would ask them please to come up to the top of the Hall, walk along the staff table, and go through into the next chamber," He indicated to a door behind him. "They will be receiving their first instructions here."

Kayla watched as the candles dimmed with a simple wave of Dumbledore's hand. The Goblet of Fire was now the main source of light, shining brighter than anything else in the room. Everyone was waiting in anticipation for the Goblet of Fire to do something. It suddenly turned crimson and a tongue of flame shot up, bringing a rather burnt piece of parchment with it. Dumbledore caught it and held it to the light.

"The Durmstrang champion will be… Victor Krum!" The hall burst into applause. Kayla clapped politely while Ron looked positively ecstatic as he cheered wildly. Krum rose and walked up to the front. After a few words with Dumbledore and a pat on the back from Karkaroff, he walked to the chamber. The noise died down almost immediately as the Goblet turned red again. The flame shot up the parchment and Dumbledore swiftly caught it again.

"The champion for Beauxbatons will be… Fleur Delacour!" The hall erupted again as Fleur stood up, beaming. She too had some kind words from Dumbledore before being ushered into the chamber with Madame Maxime. The hall was vibrating with energy as the flame appeared. There was a long silence before Dumbledore spoke.

"The Hogwarts champion is… Cedric Diggory!" Ron groaned. The Hufflepuff table exploded with applause and chants. Cedric rose and pumped his fist as he walked over to Dumbledore who gestured to the chamber door.

"Excellent! We now have our three champions I am sure I can count upon all of you, including the remaining students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, to give your champions every ounce of support you can muster. By cheering your champion on, you will contribute in a very real –" Dumbledore stopped talking as the Goblet turned red and shot out a fourth piece of parchment. He caught the parchment and looked at it. His surprisingly calm face looked up.

"Harry Potter".

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**Please review, and thank you for reading! ~ writingtoinspire**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: These characters all belong to the wonderful Mrs. Rowling.**

**Two chapters in one night. Aren't you lucky? Enjoy!**

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Kayla whipped her head round and so did the rest of the hall. Harry went stiff and pale as it dawned on him that his name was called out. There was no applause, just a stunned silence.

"But I didn't put my name in" He whispered. Every Gryffindor looked at him in disbelief as he was called again.

"Harry Potter! Please come to the front." McGonagall said.

"Harry, you have to get up there." Hermione said. Harry remained frozen. Hermione softly pushed him on the back as he realized it wasn't optional. He finally stumbled to his feet and walked over to the front while every single student in the hall shot him death glares. As Harry approached the front, Kayla saw that Dumbledore was much calmer than she expected. As he disappeared into the chamber, Dumbledore swiftly dismissed everyone. A lot of angry chatter filled the hall as the students returned to their common rooms. Kayla, Ron and Hermione walked to the common room in silence. They sat in their usual seats while they heard everyone gossip around them.

"How the hell could he have gotten his name in there? D'you reckon he asked someone else to do it?" Katie Bell said.

"Well we'll have to ask him when he gets back" Fred said, rather offhandedly. Kayla didn't say a word; she just stared into the fire. She may not be extremely close with Harry but she still worried for him.

"People have died in this tournament. He wouldn't have taken that risk… would he?" She thought. She had momentarily forgotten about Draco in this whole fiasco.

However, he patiently waited at their meeting place.

Eight thirty.

Nine.

Nine thirty.

"Where was she?" He thought.

Ten.

Ten thirty.

"Maybe this was a bad idea." He whispered, his voice soaked in the hurt he felt. He made his way back to his common room. He was on the last staircase when she heard a noise ahead. He looked up and saw Mrs. Norris looking at him. His heart started pumping faster.

"If she's here than Filch won't be too far off." He broke into a run, past Mrs. Norris and down the corridor. His skidded to a halt as he almost ran headfirst into the one person he didn't want to see. Harry's tired eyes looked up to see Malfoy staring right at him, whose eyes were wide.

"What are you doing here Malfoy?" He spat. Draco relaxed and his face changed to the familiar smirk that Harry knew so very well.

"None of your business Wonderboy. I just hope you have your will ready. I reckon you'll be lucky to last 5 minutes in the Tournament." He said snidely. Harry drew his wand.

"I can prove to you just how capable I am of being in this tournament, even if I didn't want to be." He gripped it tight. Draco also drew his wand.

"A bit cocky aren't we Pothead?"

"_Stupefy!"_ Harry shouted. Draco dodged his spell and shot one back.

"_Locomotor Mortis!"_ Harry's legs were binded together and he fell back. He muttered the counter curse and sprang back up, while shooting another curse.

"_Slugulus Eructo"_ Draco ducked as the light narrowly missed his head.

"_Petrfiticus Totalus!"_ He shouted. Harry fell on the floor and this time he couldn't reverse the spell. Draco looked down at him and sneered.

"So much for trying to prove yourself."

"_Expelliarmus!"_ Draco's wand flew out of his hand, but it wasn't Harry who disarmed him. He looked up to see Hermione holding his wand, looking furious.

"Oh look. M-Mudblood to the rescue." He smirked, as he heard more footsteps approaching them.

"And sounds like you have back-up." Ron and Kayla rounded the corner just as Hermione muttered the counter curse at Harry. Draco's voice died in his throat, just as he was going to insult them further.

"What happened?" Ron said, looking from Draco to Hermione to Harry. He raised his wand.

"Cat got your tongue Malfoy? You're outnumbered, now leave before I hex you into the next century." Harry growled. Draco's gaze shifted to Kayla, who was staring at him, anger still fresh on her face. She looked tired. There was something off about her, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. His smirk softened.

"She's still upset?" He thought. Hermione followed his line of sight to Kayla and looked surprised.

"Kayla? I thought you said you'd wait in the common room while we look for Harry?"

"I…" Her gaze drifted to Harry. "I wanted to make sure you were okay, after everything that's happened this evening." She said quietly. Draco felt a pang of jealousy as Harry shot her a grateful smile before turning back round.

"I am so tempted to do what you did to me, at just leave you here for someone to find you, but luckily for you, you're not worth it and I'm not _evil_." He hissed the last word and Draco almost winced. Hermione threw his wand on the ground.

"You know Malfoy, I'm becoming immune to 'Mudblood', you might have to be creative for once if you want to offend me." Hermione said, as she turned to walk away. Draco snuck a look at Kayla who was avoiding his gaze; she could feel the tears building up in her eyes.

"Why am I crying? This is so unnecessary. He's always used 'mudblood'. Its nothing new."

The four Gryffindors didn't say a word on the way back to the common room. As soon as they crawled through the portrait, the rest of the house were desperate to find out how he managed to outsmart the Goblet. Ron said good night to Hermione and Kayla and went to his room, looking slightly dampened.

"How did you do it without getting a beard?" George said.

"You can get Diggory back for that Quidditch match Harry!" Katie yelled.

"Here have some food, we took some from the kitchens." Fred said.

"Er no thanks I'm just going to go to bed."

"Come on Harry-" George began.

"No! I'm going to bed!" He shouted. He pushed his way through the crowd and made his way to his room.

"On that note, I'm going up too. Night Hermione." Kayla said. She walked to her room and began to get ready for bed. Hermione arrived several minutes later, just as Kayla was reading a book in bed.

"Don't think I didn't forget that you were meant to explain something to me." She said. Kayla winced. She had completely forgotten that she would tell Hermione everything. She put her book down and thought for a moment. Hermione made her way to her bed next to Kayla's and sat down, patiently waiting for an answer. Kayla looked up nervously, biting her lip while she thought about where to start.

"Okay, well… back in September, after I asked you to tutor me in Potions," she started slowly, "I was walking to lunch when Dr-M-Malfoy started to harass me, as usual."

"Wait, what do you mean, as usual?" Hermione said.

"Erm, well he has a habit of hexing me, often." Hermione's eyes widened.

"Since when?"

"Since erm f-first year." Kayla bit her lip as Hermione looked surprised.

"Why didn't you say anything? To a teacher or to me or anyone?"

"I'm more of a 'suffer in silence' type." Then Hermione showed the one emotion that Kayla hated more than ant others; pity. She hadn't seen anyone feel that for her since her brother died. That was the reason she hated it so much. She didn't want people to feel sorry for her; she just needed people to be there for her. Only, no one was. She could almost feel the tears beginning to surface, so she carried on before they could.

"Anyway, erm I disarmed him, and just when Crabbe was going to hex me, McGonagall rushes over demanding to know what was going on. So I was tempted to just say that Malfoy was taunting me, but I didn't." She looked down, not wanting to look at Hermione's reactions. "I made something up and she took some house points away. I was so angry with myself and I just skipped lunch and went straight to Charms. I was just in the classroom alone and then Malfoy comes up to me asking why I didn't rat him out and I snapped." She closed her eyes.

"I told him the reason I didn't tell McGonagall was b-because the moment before I spoke, I could see just that little bit of fear creep up over him. I knew from that, that he would always be a coward, and that was good enough for me. In my eyes, he would always be a coward, so I covered up for him" She opened her eyes, still looking at her lap as she carried on. "I had left my notebook in the classroom and Dra-Malfoy happened to pick it up. Surprisingly, he found me and returned it without reading it. We started talking in a civilized manner and it wasn't for too long but somehow, he seemed almost relaxed. Someone was walking towards us and he got up to leave, when he asked if he would be able to talk to me again. So we arranged to meet…" Kayla carried on with her story, leaving out the part about her brother, up until she got to what happened the day before. She could feel the tears gathering in her eyes.

"We've been meeting since then. He makes good company and somehow, I didn't feel so alone… Yesterday evening we were talking as usual, he was asking me questions about trains and somehow he ended up insulting… you." She lifted her head to see Hermione. Her face was composed, as it was when she began the story. "He called you what he would always call us but this time, it really hurt me as well." She felt the tears spill down her cheeks, but she didn't care. She had to let someone know the pain she's felt since yesterday.

"I got so angry and I left him in the Room. I don't know why I'm hung up on it but I think I'm…" She squeezed her eyes shut. She couldn't admit it. It was on the tip of her tongue but she couldn't say it.

"You're falling in love with him, aren't you?" Hermione said quietly. She moved over to Kayla's bed, and wrapped her arms around Kayla, whose tears were falling more than ever. She nodded. Kayla shifted to face Hermione and let her embrace her. She cried a little bit more before realizing that she had finally opened up to someone. She lifted her head to look at Hermione.

"Thank you." Kayla said. Hermione raised her eyebrows.

"For listening? That's what friends are for." Kayla smiled.

_Friends_.

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**Thanks for reading my lovelies! Until next time. ~ writingtoinspire**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this fan fiction, unfortunately.**

**I'm sorry for the delay in posting. I don't really have a good excuse... unless you call learning Cups from Pitch Perfect an excuse?**

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The next few days went by in a blur, for the rest of the school that is. Harry had told everyone the first task was on the 24th of November. Hermione was constantly reminding him to practice his defensive spells, because he had no idea what the task was. Harry was the target of the school now. Everywhere he went, he saw these charmed badges that went from 'Cedric Rules' to 'Potter Stinks' when you pushed it.

Kayla and the Golden Trio had become slightly closer, ever since she told Hermione everything. Well, almost everything. Somehow she still felt empty. Without her regular meetings with Draco, she hadn't visited the Room of Requirement since that night, and so her paintings remained untouched.

Draco, however, had gone to the usual meeting place every evening after dinner, with that little bit of hope that she would show up. Soon he was beginning to think his hopes wouldn't be fulfilled. As his father says, "Hope is the denial of reality", but even then, he wouldn't give up just yet. Surely she hadn't completely forgotten all the meetings before then? All the laughs, the moments of truth, the stories, the discovery of each other's lives. Has she just forgotten it? His feelings for her were still as fresh as when he first discovered them, and these were his only reason for going back every night.

What Draco didn't know was that she still remembered their friendship vividly. She couldn't seem to let it go. Was it because he was her first friend? Or was it because she had deeper feelings for him than friendship? Or both? She always found herself drifting into daydreams, her own little world, most often in lessons.

On a particularly chilly November afternoon, two weeks before the first task, the Gryffindors found themselves in Transfiguration class. McGonagall had gone on a rant about the importance of Transfiguration in every day life. Kayla hated lessons like this; she preferred practical lessons, not the boring theory ones. After the lesson, the students headed to lunch. Kayla was gathering her things, and in a rush, dropped her personal notebook. The same notebook that she left behind on the day her friendship with Draco began. She walked out with Hermione, completely unaware that she had left it behind. However, Draco had seen her drop it.

"Perfect." He thought. "This will give me a chance to talk to her." He walked over to the Hall where he could see her fingering her food, obviously in deep thought. He noticed that she's been doing that a lot more recently.

Hermione looked up at him as she talked to Kayla, and her widened. Kayla looked at her and turned to follow her line of sight. Her eyes widened as well, and then narrowed, trying to give him a cold look. Just as she was going to speak, Ron beat her to it.

"What are you doing here Malfoy?" He spat. Kayla turned back to her plate and fingered her food, still listening intently. Hermione looked at her reassuringly. Somehow she felt that Malfoy wasn't here to start a fight.

"You left your notebook in Transfiguration. Here." He said as he held out the small black book. She looked at it and then him, before taking it.

"Thanks" She mumbled. Draco waited for a moment, as if he needed to say more, but he decided against it. Why did he have to give it to her now, in front of all the Gryffindors? When he sat back down, Crabbe and Goyle started grilling him about why he was there.

"Green left her book in class. I gave it back to her."

"Why? What was in it?" Crabbe said. Draco hesitated. He didn't actually know.

"Just some erm... notes on Potions." They both looked at him strangely before returning to their mountain of food on their plates. He could feel Blaise's curious look fixed on him as he went to help himself to some food.

After lunch they had double potions, to the Gryffindors displeasure. Once they were all sat, Snape droned on about truth serums.

"Today we shall be producing a weak truth serum, known as _Dico Liquidus_. It is no where near as strong as Veritaserum, but it will make the drinker say what is on the forefront of their mind." Kayla remembered reading this in her Potions textbook the night before. She felt a bit of confidence swell within her.

"Can anyone tell me the main ingredient in this potion?" Hermione shot up next to Kayla. Snape's eyes swooped past Hermione before they landed on Kayla.

"Miss… Green. Care to venture a guess? Or are you too busy scribbling in your ridiculous book again." He sneered. Kayla's eyes narrowed, determined to prove him wrong.

"The main ingredients found in a truth serum would be Jobberknoll feathers. They can usually be found around this time of year actually, be sure to have a look in the Forest for some, Professor." She spat.

Snape's cold stare penetrated her, but she never broke eye contact and after what felt like an eternity, he spoke.

"Ten points from Gryffindor for being overconfident. It is in fact, during September that Jobberknolls can be found and they only live further south of England." Kayla could feel her blood boiling. Ron's mouth widened slightly in shock, while Harry looked like he was ready to murder the greasy-haired professor.

"At least I answered the bloody question instead of looking like a fool!" She thought.

"Now, I'm going to pair you up and you will brew a weak truth serum on yourself. Potter with Longbottom, Parkinson with Granger, Zabini and Weasley, Finnegan and Patil, Nott and Goyle, Crabbe with Thomas and Green with Malfoy."

Draco's eyes widened. He could sense the awkwardness building already. He looked at Kayla who was looking eerily calm. What he didn't know was that Kayla was internally contemplating tearing out of the classroom.

"Why him? Anyone would have been so much better. Even Goyle or Crabbe!" She thought. She felt a hand on hers, and snapped her head up to see Hermione looking apologetically at her before moving over to Parkinson's table. Kayla could see Pansy giving her daggers as she watched Hermione walk over. Draco sat down and they sat in silence while Snape explained which ingredients would be needed for the potion. As soon as he let them begin, Kayla shot up and walked straight to the storeroom, not wanting to speak to Malfoy, even though she knew she would have to eventually. As she was helping herself to a couple of Jobberknoll feathers she felt a shiver, sensing he was behind her.

"Can you pass me two while you're there?" He said calmly. She shoved the jar in his hands.

"Get them yourself." She walked over to another shelf to get three leaves of Fluxweed when she felt his presence again. Her heartbeat quickened. She could feel her courage increase again. She whirled around, not realizing how close he was and stumbled back slightly. She glared up at him.

"What do you want?" She said icily. He smirked, arrogance clear on his face.

"I need some Fluxweed for your inform –"

"You know what I mean. Leave me to my work." His smirk weakened.

"I just want things the way they were." He whispered dejectedly. Surprise flitted over her face before giving him another hard glare.

"You should have thought about that before." She used every fibre in her being to walk past him and back to her seat. All she wanted was the same, but she could never fall for that again, despite her feelings for him. She began chopping her Fluxweed, and once the temperature was correct she added them. Malfoy walked back out of the storeroom, still as cool and calm as ever. They spent the rest of the lesson in a tense silence.

All he wanted to do was tell her how sorry he was, how much he wished he could just speak to her again, open up to her, tell her everything that he had been thinking for the past few weeks, and how many times a day he wishes he could go back in time and prevent himself from saying what he said because…

He was in love with her.

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**The quotation "Hope is the denial of reality" is by Margret Weis.**

******Well, I hope you liked the chapter. **Please let me know if you did or didn't by reviewing it. Thanks ~ writingtoinspire


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: All these characters belong to Mrs. Rowling, apart Kayla and her family.**

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The two weeks running up to the first task were tense, for the champions anyway. The rest of the school was buzzing with excitement.

Four days before the task, Harry received a letter from Hagrid to meet him at his hut alone and to bring his 'cloak'. While Kayla didn't understand why cloak was in quote marks, Hermione, Harry and Ron seemed to take it into their stride.

While Harry was at Hagrid's that evening, Kayla decided to visit the Room after dinner. She really wanted to finish some of her paintings.

"Are you sure you don't want me to come with you?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, it'll be fine. If anything happens, I just use that spell that Flitwick told us about last week." Hermione smiled.

"Yeah that sounds painful! I wouldn't want to be on the end of your wand." Kayla smiled, realising she was getting used to their friendship, and she didn't feel uncomfortable around her, Ron, Harry or Neville anymore. She grabbed her cloak and headed out towards the seventh floor, making sure that Filch wasn't around.

She finally got inside the Room after pacing back and forward for almost ten minutes. As soon as she closed the door behind her, she saw a flash of blinding blonde hair, and whipped out her wand.

"What are you doing here?" She hissed. Draco looked surprised, and then he smiled, showing his pearly teeth.

"You came." He said. Kayla narrowed her eyes.

"I'm going to ask again, what are you doing here?" She gripped her wand tighter. He held his hands up, as if surrendering.

"I've been hanging out here." She raised her eyebrows.

"Why? What would you gain from being here?" Draco took a few step closer, with caution, knowing what would happen if he startled her.

"I could ask you the same question." He smirked. Kayla rolled her eyes.

"Nice try, don't even attempt to flip this around on me. For the last time, I'm going to ask why you're hanging out here? Answer or I _will_ hex you." He took two more slow steps. She could feel her heart beating faster.

"The same reason you are."

"I doubt that very much, I didn't even know you would be here. The one place I have to myself and you just show up there. Like I said last time we spoke, _please_ just leave me alone." She pleaded. His expression softened.

"You really want me to leave that badly?" He muttered.

"No." She thought, desperately wanting to forgive him. She looked at his melancholy silver eyes.

"How many times to I have to apologise?" He whispered. She smiled sadly.

"Don't you get it? I'll forgive you when you understand just how much what you said hurt me. Just because you say sorry a bunch of times doesn't mean you truly know the reason you're saying sorry." Her deep blue eyes held more pain than he had ever seen before, and she had done nothing wrong in her life. She's the victim in this world.

"I won't give up." He said, before walking past her and out the door. She stood there for a few moments before letting out a breath she didn't even realise she was holding. She shook the conversation out of her head before getting to work. She had some paintings to finish.

Two hours later, she decided to turn in after finally finishing a painting of her small tawny owl, Mercury, that she got for her birthday in second year. She left the Room and made her way back to the common room. Luckily she didn't bump into Filch or anyone else on the way. She sank into a soft armchair once she got to the common room, only to hear Harry rushing in a few moments later. He looked quite distressed, and very out of breath. He whispered to Hermione and Ron, and they walked up to his dormitory. Kayla didn't expect them to include her; it's understandable seeing as they had only really become friends this year. She sighed and walked up to her dormitory, and went to bed, even if she wasn't going to sleep. A good hour later, Hermione walked in, muttering quickly to herself. Kayla kept her eyes closed but listened to see if she could comprehend anything she was saying.

"Hagrid… Forest… _dragons_." Kayla's heart quickened at the latter word.

"So that's what the task is. Something with dragons. No wonder Harry was distressed." She thought. As Hermione got ready for bed, Kayla opened one eye very slightly, and watched the brunette fumble around the room, getting books ready for the next day, checking over all her homework briefly, despite doing and perfecting it weeks ago. Kayla admired her in a way, for her work ethic. Regardless of the bags that were forming under her eyes, she was still doing work when she was clearly exhausted. Kayla decided she needed to sleep, whether or not she had work to do (though she seriously doubted it).

"Hermione." She said, sounding a little sleepy. Hermione jumped, and then held her hand to her heart.

"I thought you were asleep?" She said in an undertone.

"I… was, but I heard you rustling about. Go to bed, it's late."

"Oh but this will just take a few minutes, I'm almost done checking it through." Kayla rolled her eyes.

"You can check it in the morning, you're obviously shattered."

"There's only a little bit left to – "

"Hermione Granger. You're going to bed if I have to drag you there myself."

Hermione held her hands up in defeat as she made her way to the bathroom, chuckling. Kayla smiled, pleased that Hermione actually took her advice.

The next day, Draco was making his way to his first lesson when he heard a flurry of footsteps behind. He was in a foul mood after his run-in with Kayla yesterday. Any annoyance and he was sure to snap.

He also felt as if something was wrong. He had a strange tugging feeling in his stomach, as if something bad was going to happen. It wasn't your normal feeling, as if it was your conscience. This was a lot stronger, almost supernatural. He had felt like this ever since he sat down for breakfast. He looked behind him to see Pansy and Crabbe rushing to keep up with his break-neck walking speed, looking extremely smug.

"Is there a reason you're looking particularly proud of yourselves? Finally learnt how to spell your name did you?" He turned and sneered at Crabbe, who winced.

"Well we noticed that you were in a bad mood and we wanted to cheer you up, so we organised a little something that we know you'll enjoy." Pansy said sweetly. Draco rolled his eyes; trust Pansy to be sucking up to him, even when he was in the worst of moods.

"Well get it over with, we have Transfiguration." Pansies squealed as she took his arm and lead him down a quiet corridor. He rolled his eyes again, knowing that it won't be as big as Pansy was making it out to be. After walking for a few minutes, Pansy turned to face a door to a classroom.

"This is going to be fun." She said darkly as she pushed the door open to reveal a dimly lit classroom. Goyle was standing, his wand out, pointing it at a shadowy figure tied to a chair. Draco curious eyes squinted but he still couldn't see the person's face. Pansy whipped out her wand, mumbled "_Lumos_" and a bright light shot out of the end. The figure lifted its head quickly with wide eyes. Draco's heart plummeted.

He was right. Something bad has happened. Pansy looked at him eagerly. He couldn't mistake the dazzling sapphires that were looking at him with shock.

"Ka-G-Green?" He stuttered.

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**Well, this is interesting isn't it? I hope you liked the little twist I put in. If not, please let me know in a review. ~ writingtoinspire**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters featured in this fan fiction.**

**I'm sorry for the delay. School work has been awful. But here it is!**

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His bewildered expression was quickly replaced with his usual indifferent smirk.

"Although hexing Greenie would be fun, I have an issue with the fact that we have to be in Transfiguration in about five minutes. You really should have thought this through Pansy." He shook his head in disappointment. Pansy's eager expression faded.

"Oh I didn't that hexing her would take that long…" Draco chuckled darkly.

"Come now Pansy, I thought we were too old for hexes. I think torture is a better way of putting it." He hissed. Kayla winced, knowing that he probably wasn't joking.

"Draco, your so… _evil_" She flirted. Draco had the urge to roll his eyes.

"I'll tell you what. You head to Transfiguration while I take care of this." He said, his merciless grey eyes never leaving Kayla. Pansy, Crabbe and Goyle slipped out wordlessly. Once the door was closed, he put a silencing spell over the room. Kayla's eyes widened as he walked over to her.

"I'm not going to hurt you." He reached out and pulled the cloth that was over her mouth. His hand accidently touched her cheek and she shivered at his cold skin. The frightening element had gone from his eyes and had been replaced with sorrow and compassion.

"Are you okay?" Kayla laughed humourlessly.

"Just peachy! There's nothing like being gagged and taken into a dark room, not knowing what was going to happen." She remarked sarcastically. "Can you just untie me please?"

Draco looked at her for a moment before untying the ropes that were bound tightly around her wrists. Once he had undone all the knots he saw that she had red marks from them. He grabbed her waist to help her out of the chair only to have her jerk out of his grip and wince, as if she was in pain.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"Nothing, I'm fine." She made her way past him towards the door, when he grabbed her to get her to stop.

"What?" She yelled, her hand covering her side.

"You're hurt, aren't you?"

"No, just let me get to class."

"Kayla, who hurt you?" He said firmly.

"Let me go Malfoy. I'm fine." He grabbed her arm and pulled her closer, making her collide with him ever so slightly. She winced yet again, confirming his suspicions.

"I'm going to ask again. Who. Hurt. You?" He said strongly. She looked down and said nothing. Without warning, Draco lifted her jumper to reveal a deep purple bruise that was about the size of his whole hand. She gasped at the sudden movement and moved away from him swiftly.

"Why did you have to do that? Why can't you just let me leave?" She shouted. His line of sight was still where she was previously standing.

"Pansy couldn't have made a bruise that big." He thought.

"Was it Crabbe or Goyle?" He said, his gaze shifting back to her. Her defiant glare softened.

"Goyle." She muttered. She saw Draco clench his fists, even though his gaze never left hers.

"How did he do it?" He said. Kayla stayed silent. She could feel his anger from where she was standing. Any minute, she was sure he would snap.

"How?" He persisted.

"He k-kicked me, hard." She could feel the tears building up as she remembered the pain. She left the room before the tears fell down her soft cheeks. She made her way to the Gryffindor common room to avoid more questions from anyone. She made her way up to her dorm and cried, not caring about the fact that she was missing her lessons. She thought of all the awful names and pain she endured when she was put in that classroom.

"_Filthy blooded creature. It's a wonder you're still in Hogwarts with your bad blood. Surely someone would have realised how degrading it is for the school to have students like you and Granger. You don't belong here." Pansy spat, a sadistic glint in her eye._

"_Excuras" Kayla didn't recognise the spell but she soon realised what it did when felt her skin burning, but when she looked down there was no fire. She writhed and shrieked from the intense pain. After what felt like a lifetime, the burning stopped and she just laid on the floor sobbing. She didn't say anything until she felt a huge force against her hip and she looked up through teary eyes at Goyle who was towering over her._

Before she knew it, it was lunchtime and she heard a tapping against her window. Mercury was outside with a letter.

"Thank you" She said as she took the envelope. The owl nuzzled her hand before flying off again into the cloudy sky. She watched it until it became a speck, wishing she could do the same. When she opened the letter, it read:

_Miss Green,_

_I notice you were not present in my class as well as your other classes this morning. Please come to my office as soon as you can so you can explain your absence._

_Professor McGonagall_

"Perfect," she thought. "Now I have to think of a reason as to why I wasn't in Transfiguration." She walked towards the bathroom where she splashed her face with water to get rid of the tearstains on her cheeks. She grabbed her wand before heading out of the common room towards McGonagall's office, still deep in thought.

Once she arrived, she knocked twice and braced herself for an interesting conversation.

"Ah Miss Green, come in." Kayla walked in and McGonagall motioned to her to sit down.

"Now, would you please explain why you two were not in class today?" She said, looking at Kayla piercingly.

"Two?" She thought. She looked at the other chair and realised for the first time that there was another student in the room and she immediately knew who it was, due to the telltale platinum blonde hair that was falling into the boy's eyes. Her look turned back to McGonagall who was eying her questioningly.

"Well?"

"Um… on my way to class, I t-tripped on the stairs and fell on my side. I had really hurt myself, it ached when I moved and I didn't know what to do. Luckily, Dr-Malfoy was coming down the stairs and saw I was hurt so he helped me to my common room, as it was closer than the hospital wing." Draco looked at her with shock while her eyes never left McGonagall's, just in case she was suspicious.

"How bad is the injury?" She said. Kayla stood up and lifted her jumper to show the bruise.

"That looks like it should be seen to. Mr. Malfoy, please take Miss. Green to the hospital wing before you go to lunch." Draco nodded curtly and stood up, leading the way out of the office, Kayla following him.

Once out of McGonagall's office, Kayla breathed a sigh of relief, thanking her lucky stars that she was able to come up with a story believable enough for McGonagall to let them go without much questioning.

Draco watched her as they walked to the hospital wing, as she clutched her side, obviously in pain but her face was as calm as usual. She had covered up for him _again_. He had to know why.

"Why did you cover up for me?" He asked quickly. Kayla turned to face him and they carried on walking.

"I thought that was obvious." Draco raised his eyebrows in question.

"It wasn't your fault." She looked away. They stayed silent until they reached the hospital wing.

"Well, it looks like you've fractured your rib. It's quite an awkward fracture and I'll have to give you a potion for it, and I would prefer you stayed for the night." Madame Pomfrey rattled on. Draco winced when Kayla was being examined; he noticed that the bruise had gotten worse than when he had first seen it. She, however, didn't show any sign of pain. She felt no need to cry feel sorry for herself, she had done enough of that earlier.

"Mr. Malfoy you may go to lunch." Madame Pomfrey said, as she gave Kayla a gown to change into. Draco turned around and made his way to the door.

"Thank you." Kayla said quietly. He turned his head slightly and nodded. When he got to the Great Hall, Pansy gestured wildly for him to sit next to her. He growled to himself and sat down.

"Are you feeling in a better mood now Draco?" She said, batting her eyelashes.

"Only slightly." He snarled.

Once lunch was over, Draco made his way to Charms. He was able to escape from Pansy, Crabbe and Goyle by claiming he left his textbook in his room. He went straight to the Charms classroom and breathed a huge sigh of relief. He had to process all the events of the day.

His musings turned to Kayla. She was the victim in this entire episode, and she still covered up for him for the second time. He felt like he was experiencing déjà vu. Except last time, he had intended on hurting Kayla. Now, all he wanted to do was be with her, protect her, love her and have her love him back.

"Sadly, she'll probably never feel the same way." He thought.

Students had begun to come into the classroom and Draco watched as the troublesome three came in, looking slightly distressed.

"I don't understand where she could be. I haven't seen her since breakfast." Draco's heartbeat quickened as he realised they were talking about Kayla.

"Maybe we can go to McGonagall before Charms? I'm sure Professor Flitwick won't mind." Hermione said worriedly. She scanned the classroom and her eyes locked with Draco's.

"What are you looking at Malfoy?" Ron spat.

"No need to get your second-hand knickers in a twist Weasley." He remarked. Hermione narrowed her eyes, as if she suspected something. Professor Flitwick walked in before she could say anything and Harry, Ron and Hermione took their seats along with everyone else.

After Charms, Draco was making his way to the dungeons when he heard his name being called. He turned around to see Hermione marching up to him. He smirked.

"Got something on your plate Gr- "

"Where is she? What did you do to her?" She interrupted.

"Honestly Granger, didn't your parents teach you that it's rude to interrupt someone when they're speaking?"

"Don't play with me Malfoy. What did you do to Kayla? I swear to Merlin, if you've hurt her in any way I will turn you into a slug."

"Since when were you and Green friends?" He said icily.

"I could say the same to you." She said, equally as cold. His eyes flashed surprise before settling back into his mask. They glared at each other, both refusing to back down.

"That's it. I'm going to McGonagall." She whirled around and started speed walking back up the hallway.

"Granger!" He called. She stopped and turned around, as he walked towards her.

"She's in the hospital wing." He said in an undertone.

"Why? What's wrong?" She said, her angry dissolving into anxiousness.

"She f-fell down the stairs on her way to Transfiguration and I found her, it was too far to the hospital wing so I brought her back to her common room and stayed with her just in case. She's fractured her rib." He said, looking anywhere but Hermione's puzzled face.

"Why did you help her?" She said.

"I thought it looked serious and- "

"I knew it." Hermione said. He looked at her sceptically.

"You're such an insufferable know-it-all, what the hell are you talking about?" Hermione smirked.

"You love her!" Draco rolled his eyes, despite feeling extremely shocked that she was able to figure out how he felt. She really was a know-it-all.

"That's ridiculous."

"From previous events and what I've just heard, it's quite obvious." She raised her eyebrow.

"Previous events?" He said.

"Oh please! You're still acting like it never happened. After meeting with Kayla every evening for the past few weeks, you still don't show how much it really meant to you. Don't worry; she pretends like she doesn't care that you're not friends anymore as well." She explained. Draco kept on his indifferent mask, not wanting to reveal his relief.

"Think what you like Granger, it's not true." Hermione chuckled to herself.

"I'll think what I will because I _know_ you love her. It's as plain as day! I would suggest you do something about it before you regret it." She bit before making her way towards the hospital wing, proud of herself for being able to figure out the enigma that is Draco Malfoy.

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**I hope you enjoyed it! I'll try and update once a week at least. Until next time, stay awesome. ~ writingtoinspire**


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, nada.**

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Once she had arrived at the hospital wing she noticed Madame Pomfrey fussing over Kayla, probably because she was the only patient in the hospital wing. She walked over to rescue her from the mediwitch, who gave up eventually.

"She's trying to get me to drink some pain relieving potion, even though it smells like donkey." She shuddered, while Hermione smiled amusedly.

"It is probably the best thing. It'll hurt overnight to heal that fracture otherwise." She said in a motherly fashion.

"Who told you I was here?" Kayla said.

"Malfoy," Hermione began, noting the fact that Kayla's eyes grew considerably big. "He told about you falling down the stairs. It sounds like something Neville would do!" She joked. Kayla smiled weakly.

"Did he really stay with you until lunch?" She said, suspicion woven into her words. She nodded slowly.

"Wow. That isn't like Malfoy at all. Did you guys talk much?" Hermione said. Kayla thought for a moment.

"A-A little, I was just really tired from half-walking, half-limping to the common room so I slept a bit. He just sat in my room." She lied. They stayed in a comfortable silence until Hermione realised she had Potions.

"I'll come after dinner okay? Take your potion." She said sternly before rushing off to her lesson. Kayla smiled at her.

"If I wasn't friends with Hermione, I would have no one." She thought suddenly. She looked at the previous years that she had spent alone, at home as well as school. After Liam passing away, she didn't have anyone. Her parents tried to act like friends would but they were never able to fill that void. Thinking of her parents gave her a sudden urge to write to them, seeing as she hadn't done so yet.

"Madame Pomfrey? Do you have any parchment I could use to send a letter?" She asked.

"Of course dear. But first you must drink your potion." She said, just as Hermione had before. Kayla eyed the small vial before taking it all in one gulp. She shivered, it tasted exactly like it smelled. Madame Pomfrey gave her a minuscule hint of a smile before handing her an ink well, a quill and some parchment.

_Mum and Dad,_

_How are you? I realise I haven't written yet so I thought I would fill you in on what has happened so far this term. There is a tournament taking place this year, where we compete with two other magical schools. These are a French school called 'Beauxbatons' and a school in Norway called 'Durmstrang'. Only students seventeen and over can enter (luckily for me), and everyone's very excited about it._

_Besides that, classes have been fine, I'm sure you'll be happy to know I'm getting considerably better at Potions, thanks to Hermione. I'm sure I've mentioned her before but in case I haven't, she's a girl in my house that I have my classes with. She's also the smartest student in our school, which is handy considering we're friends now. It's definitely made things a lot more interesting to have someone to talk to. I've also become friends with her friends, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. Unfortunately, Harry's been entered into the tournament without his consent and he can't do anything about it. We're wondering how and why he was entered into the tournament. It seems there's an age restriction for a reason considering people have died in this tournament before. We're all worried for him._

_How is everything at home? Say hello to Gramma and Grampa for me._

_Lots of Love,_

_Kayla_

After sending off her letter, she sat in her lumpy bed, bored out of her mind. She ended up drifting off into a doze, tired from the events of the day. Dinner finally rolled over and Kayla woke up to a tray of food on her side table. The smell made her feel slightly sick and she only had a few mouthfuls of mashed potato and a few sips of pumpkin juice. Not long after Madame Pomfrey checked on her bruise, Hermione, Harry, Ron, Neville and Ginny walked in.

"No, we can't have too many people in here. Miss Granger, please tell your friends to leave." Madame Pomfrey fussed.

"Oh it'll only be for a few minutes and then we'll leave. Please?" She said. Madame Pomfrey rolled her eyes before stalking off again.

"How you feeling? Have you had your potion?" Hermione said. Kayla chuckled at Hermione.

"Yes _mother_. I'm fine, a little sore."

"Well we brought you some chocolate cake from dinner." Ron said as he handed her a slightly squashed piece of cake wrapped in tissue.

"Thank you." She said, putting it to the side for later.

"Oh and I brought your assignments and notes that you need to catch up on." Hermione said, putting a small pile of paper at the end of her bed.

"Honestly Hermione, give her a break! She's fractured a rib, she should be allowed to relax a little." Ginny said, sounding amused at the older girl. Kayla smiled at the feisty redhead. They hadn't known each other that well but Ginny was a lightened up version of Hermione; spirited, funny and extremely kind, but she was more lenient on work.

"How long are you here for Kayla?" Harry asked. Ron gave him a slightly cold glance as he asked the question. Kayla kept that iciness in her mind for analysis later.

"Just for the night, Madame Pomfrey said I should be okay to leave by tomorrow afternoon." Harry nodded and chatted with Ginny while Hermione explained to Kayla what she had missed in her lessons, with Kayla listening only half-heartedly. Ron stood, glaring at Harry and Ginny while Neville stood silently, unsure of what to do or say. He had only come to see if Kayla was okay and to talk to her, but everyone else seemed to have her attention besides him. He always admired Kayla for being able to handle herself without anyone for three years at Hogwarts. While he always seemed to be gaining help from his fellow classmates (which he gladly accepted, considering it was all he had), she pushed others away and he never understood why. Until this year, where she seemed to open up a bit more.

"Perhaps it was just a phase? That happened to last three years… No, there must be more to her than that" He thought. He was desperate to know her better. So maybe he had developed a little crush, but only a _tiny_ one. He had it under control.

"Are you okay Neville? You seem a bit quiet?" Hermione said. Kayla looked at him with her startling blue eyes, and smiled kindly. He nodded vigorously while looking anywhere but Kayla.

"That's it. You've had _ten_ minutes! Out now! Miss Green has to sleep. You'll see her tomorrow." Madame Pomfrey said, while ushering them out.

"See you!" Hermione said. Kayla waved before pulling the sheets over her and settling into bed after a long, tiring day.

Sleep didn't come easily as her thoughts moved to Draco. He had stopped her from being hurt by the two brainless trolls and the bitch that commanded them. He looked genuinely concerned for her when he had realised she was hurt.

"No, I can't get sucked into that again. I have to ignore him completely, just like before this year." She thought.

The next morning, when she walked into the Great Hall, she was greeted with warm smiles from her friends. She sat down with them as they chattered about the upcoming task.

"Harry, you honestly need to figure out what you're going to go, what spells you have to learn so you can pass your task with ease." Hermione lectured. Ron and Harry seemed to be acting a lot colder towards each other, more so that yesterday.

"Calm down Hermione! You're making it sound like an exam! I'm trying as hard as I can but it's not exactly a walk in the park." He grumbled. Hermione sighed and gave up on him, turning towards Kayla.

"Aren't you going to eat anything?" She said, before popping a spoon of cereal into her mouth.

"No I ate before I left the hospital wing. You know what Madame Pomfrey's like." Kayla fibbed. She didn't feel hungry and she didn't want to deal with Hermione lecturing her too. From the corner of her eye, she could see Malfoy looking at her, as if she was going to drop dead any moment. She looked in his direction and caught his stare. His cheeks went a delicate shade of pink before going back to his breakfast. She smirked, noticing that that was the first time she had seen any colour on his pale face since she had been at the school.

"Embarrassment suits him." She thought before being dragged into a conversation with Hermione and Neville about the use of a telephone.

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**Two chapters in one night, because I felt bad for being slow before. I hope you liked it! ~ writingtoinspire**


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this fan fiction, unfortunately. *sniff***

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The day before the first task, Harry was acting extremely odd. He only spoke when being spoken to and he tended to drift off into a daze. Hermione on the other hand, was completely focused on trying to help Harry get through it, but you could tell he was close to snapping every time she talked to him about his strategies.

In the evening, Kayla, Harry and Hermione were looking for possible spells to help Harry.

"I honestly don't know what I'm supposed to be looking for. It would help if you told me what the task was." Kayla hinted. Hermione gave Harry a tentative look, from which she received a hesitant nod. Hermione looked around to see if anyone was listening. She stopped and looked at a corner behind Kayla, and narrowed her eyes. Kayla turned around and followed her line of sight, and her eyes landed on Blaise Zabini, who quickly looked at an open book. She raised her eyebrows and turned back to Hermione who was writing on a spare piece of parchment. She wavered wand over it and muttered before handing it to a questioning Kayla.

"You never know." She whispered before looking back at the book she was reading.

_It involves dragons. We really don't know what Harry has to do with them but he has to face them, and that's worrying in itself._

Kayla understood their predicament and why they were so desperate now. She took her quill and wrote a message back to Harry.

_Don't worry; I'll do everything I can. Even if we don't find anything, I'm sure you will complete the task. You defeated a basilisk in second year for crying out loud! You're more talented at magic than you believe, and you can do this._

As Harry read it, he looked up, gratitude in his eyes. He nodded, and then delved back into the books with his newfound courage. Hermione raised an eyebrow in question as Kayla picked up another book, a smile playing on her lips.

After an hour of searching through several spell books and finding nothing, Kayla stumbled across a nifty little spell.

"Hey, look at this." She whispered.

"A freezing spell. It freezes something for a small amount of time, but that be able to buy you a few minutes and do whatever it is you have to do. All you have to say is the incantation _Glacio_." Harry nodded and wrote it into his notes. Kayla looked at her muggle watch.

"Guys it's nearly ten o'clock. We should really get back to the common room." She said quietly, whilst grabbing three heavy books to take away.

"You get going we'll catch up with you in a little bit." Hermione said, scribbling quickly, trying to get as many notes as possible. Kayla smiled in amusement, and made her way out of the library. What the three Gryffindors didn't see was that a certain dark-skinned Slytherin slipped out after her.

She felt someone's presence following her as she made her way along the cold, stony hallways of Hogwarts. Certain that there was someone behind her, she whirled around and saw Zabini advancing on her.

"Hello Green." He said coolly.

She nodded in acknowledgement before turning back round and walking again. He kept up with her pace. She shot him a nervous look.

"What do you want Zabini?" She said, still walking at a fairly fast rate. Blaise smirked.

"I've noticed that you've been acting strangely lately, and so has Draco." He said. Kayla's eyes widened slightly, before she composed herself an indifferent mask.

"I don't see how Malfoy has anything to do with me. Have you been watching me?" She said suspiciously.

"I'm not stupid Green. Granted I'm not Granger but don't underestimate me. I have in fact been keeping an eye on you. Ever since the day that you and Draco didn't show up to Transfiguration." Her eyebrows rose.

"I simply fell down the stairs and Malfoy helped me to the hospital wing. Surely he told you that?" She said. Blaise smirked again; it didn't quite suit him as much as Draco.

"Yes, but I, unlike everyone else in this world, can tell when he's lying. It's a gift that comes with knowing him for so long." He said looking at her smugly.

"Well obviously this time you were wrong. Nothing happened besides me being extremely uncoordinated and fracturing a rib." She said dryly.

"You're a lot like him you know. You both seem to put on that indifferent mask when you lie." He said, sounding slightly more sincere.

"I'm not lying. I honestly didn't think you would compare a mudblood to a pureblood anyway." She spat, aggravated that he saw right through her.

"I think that blood purity is overrated." Kayla looked at his dark features in interest and surprise. "If you're magical, that's because you have magical blood. I don't think some have more than others, just because they have magical parents. You're still able to perform spells just as well as me, if not better."

"Was that a compliment?" She questioned smugly. He rolled his eyes.

"Think what you want of it, it was a point that muggle-borns can perform magic just as pure bred wizards can."

"Well I wish everyone else felt the same." She said thoughtfully. "Well I'm sorry I underestimated you." He nodded and the walked in silence.

"So are you going to explain what's up with you and Draco?" He said, a little less cruelly this time.

"There's nothing to tell Zabini. I don't know what got that idea in your head but it's not true." She said dismissively before turning at a corner and waving without looking back at Blaise's frustrated face.

"If you won't tell me, I'll have to force it out of Draco." He thought before heading towards the dungeons to the Slytherin common room. Once he was got there, he looked around for Draco, without wanting to look frantic. He went up to their shared dorm and saw that the curtains around Draco's bed were shut. He walked up and ripped them apart, not caring about his privacy. Draco's eyes snapped up to his dark brown ones and relaxed once he realised it was just Blaise. He went back to the book he was reading, when in fact he was really thinking about Kayla.

"There you are." Blaise said before making his way to his own bed and flopping on it. They both lay there in comfortable silence before Blaise spoke again.

"You know, that Green girl is quite the mystery." He said, looking at the ceiling. Draco's head whipped in his direction. He composed his expression and shrugged before turning back to his book.

"And now that I think about it, you're quite the mystery too." Blaise said, before sitting up and facing Draco with a hard stare. "Are you going to tell me why you helped the mudblood?" He spat, trying to provoke Draco into revealing his soft spot for her, despite his disapproval of the word.

Draco's jaw clenched, stopping himself from screaming at Zabini for calling her that. He shrugged again. He looked at his best friend, so he didn't lose face.

"She fell down the stairs and had fractured a rib, I just helped her to her common room. Its no big deal." Blaise chuckled and Draco raised his eyebrows.

"You underestimate me Malfoy. You always do. I've noticed more than you think. Why is it that you don't come straight back to the common room after dinner and you only return after curfew?" He said pointedly. Draco's heart began to beat faster.

"Shit, Blaise has realised more than I thought." He contemplated before speaking.

"Seriously Zabini, I'm having a few extra lessons with Snape because I'm failing miserably at Potions." He said. Blaise's eyebrow rose in amusement.

"Alright, you won't mind if I come tomorrow will you? I'm not doing to well either." He said, clearly messing with him. Draco remained silent, as if concentrating on his book. Blaise chuckled again, slightly more darkly than usual.

"I know when you're lying Malfoy. You put on that mask of indifference and guess what?" Blaise said cockily. Draco looked up slowly and calmly to face the dark-skinned Slytherin.

"She's exactly the same." He said sincerely, dropping the jokey tone in his voice. The young Malfoy paled and said nothing. Blaise smirked.

"Explain." He said simply. Draco was so tempted to lie to him again, but he decided against it, knowing that he would see right through it again, and so he kept quiet.

Blaise narrowed his eyes and then rolled them.

"You're both so impossible!" He said with frustration. Draco's eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Us both?" He said, trying to keep his voice level.

"She wouldn't tell me anything either! You're supposed to be cooperative and just tell me if you're secretly shagging or whatever so I can have the satisfaction of being right!" He flopped back on his bed with irritation after ranting (mostly to himself). Draco became even wearier after Blaise's little outburst.

"What the hell did you ask her?" He spat.

"Just asked her what was going on, she denied any sort of interaction besides you helping her and then I mentioned how alike you two were and she was surprised that I would compare a mudblood," he raised his hands to put air quotes around the word. "to a pureblood and I explained my view on blood purity and- "

"Wait a minute. What's your view on blood purity?" He said with curiosity. Blaise sat up again in surprise.

"I thought you knew?" He said. Draco shook his head.

"It's a ludicrous idea." He shrugged. Draco's eyes widened.

"Since when did you think that?"

"I guess, since I came here? I believed being pureblood meant I would be brilliant at magic, and that all pureblooded wizards would be too but I was so wrong. I mean look at Goyle and Crabbe! Ever since that damned Charms class in first year when Granger was able to levitate the feather before anyone else. I was really confused and questioned my blood purity and that's when I realised, _it didn't matter_. She was always going to be better than me whether my blood was 'pure' or not. So I kind of ignored everything my mother taught me when I was young and to be honest, none of you really noticed." He said apprehensively.

"But you hate Granger." Draco pointed out. Blaise smirked.

"Yeah because she's know-it-all Gryffindor, and even then I don't _hate_ her per say, I just severely dislike her." Draco thought about this new information a moment. He realised how much he admired Blaise (though he would never admit it) and his willingness to judge people by their personality for himself, instead of letting his 'prejudices' do it for him.

"You have a point. But I think my parents were more hardcore than yours about this sort of thing, so it's kind of hard for me to question it. Old habits die hard, as they say." He said.

"Well obviously not." Blaise said, giving him a knowing look. Draco raised an eyebrow.

"Seriously Draco? Your little Gryffindor friend?" He winked, as Draco's face erupted in sudden realisation that they were talking about Kayla before they went off on a tangent. The blonde-haired boy decided he had become very interested in the floor and continued to stare at it until Blaise said something else.

"You know, that's not the best way to avoid a discussion topic?" Draco raised his head slowly, avoiding Zabini's eyes. Blaise's smirk weakened as he realised he had probably hit a nerve.

"So I was right?" He said seriously. Draco remained quiet. The dark Slytherin rolled his eyes. He knew that there was something going on between the two of them and he was determined to find out.

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**I hope you liked it! Please leave any comments, criticisms or even praise if you wish. Thank you ~ writingtoinspire**


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this fan fiction.**

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Draco hadn't said anything for a good five minutes, the cogs in his head whirring as he contemplated telling Blaise. He wasn't a gossip queen and frankly, he'd rather it was Blaise than Goyle or Crabbe. At least he understands.

"Fine, don't answer me. I'll simply jump to conclusions and let everyone in the house know as well." Blaise stood up and made his way to the door.

"Wait." He turned around, feeling triumphant. He lifted his eyebrow in question as Draco finally looked at him.

"Well… I-I urm…" Blaise thought he would never see the day when Draco Malfoy becomes nervous and speechless. He chuckled and received a confused look from his best friend.

"You've got it bad, haven't you?"

"What are you on about Zabini?" Blaise sat back down on his bed.

"Oh it's Zabini now is it? No need to get defensive _Malfoy_." He emphasized. Draco shot him a glare. They looked at each other for a little while before Blaise gave him a look that indicated him to carry on with his story.

"Well… it started in September…" As Draco told his side of the story, Blaise remained completely quiet. Once he was finished, he thought hard for a moment about what he was going to say next. He was a bit confused himself.

"And now… I think I'm u-urm…" Blaise rolled his eyes as his best friend began to stutter again, able to phrase what he was about to say. He had never had so much trouble getting his words out. It was unsettling.

"Oh spit it out Malfoy!" Blaise said in frustration.

"I _love_ her!" He said, a little stunned, just as Blaise was.

"Are you sure mate? Surely its just a crush?" He said sincerely.

"I think so. I can't stop thinking about her. When I called Granger filthy blooded, I just can't get over her face when she heard it. At first I didn't understand but now I do and she won't talk to me long enough for me to apologise and explain. It's killing me." He put his head in his hands, as if in defeat. Blaise didn't know what to say. He had never seen Draco display so much emotion before.

"It must be serious." He thought. His brain started to tick as he decided he had to help Draco. But he was going to need the support of a certain Gryffindor.

The next day was the first task. Harry had not been able to sleep and frankly, neither had Hermione, Ron or Kayla. They were all extremely concerned for Harry (even though Ron didn't show it). After eating a measly breakfast, despite Hermione's constant nagging, Harry made his way down to the Headmaster's office. Meanwhile, Ron, Hermione, Neville and Kayla waited until it was time to go to the Quidditch pitch.

"I hope he knows what he's doing." Ron mumbled as they wrapped up in their coats and scarves.

"Honestly Ronald! You could at least show Harry some support! You think he's just going to battle a dragon without being prepared? Harry needs his friends right now, and you're here questioning his abilities! Have you learnt anything from what we've seen the past three years?" She groaned and walked ahead, leaving Ron slightly miffed. He looked at Kayla who was surprised at Hermione's scolding.

"Trust me, that's not the worst. In third year, she punched Malfoy in the face." Kayla chuckled. A small smile tugged on the redhead's face as he carried walking, Kayla by his side.

"She right though." Kayla said, looking at Ron pointedly. Ron's brow furrowed but said nothing.

"Think about it. You resent him for not telling you about entering the tournament, but if you remember the night he was chosen. He was just as shocked as everyone else, if not more. You know why? Because _he didn't enter_." She said, turning her head forwards, letting Ron absorb what she had said. After five minutes, Kayla broke the silence.

"I get it. Harry's the one that always gets the attention, and you feel like you're just 'Harry Potter's best friend'. You're feeling neglected." She said, not looking at the youngest male Weasley. Ron looked at her, his eyebrows raised. Kayla smiled at him.

"And you think people don't notice you? Trust me when I say, you're not alone. I've felt unnoticed. My brother was the one with the talents in our family. He was definitely louder than me and was the first to be noticed. But that doesn't mean I resent him for it. I love him, because he's my brother." She felt a pang in her chest. Even after seven years, she still felt the pain for her brother's absence. "Just like you should be towards Harry. You can't blame him for being famous. If anyone, you should blame You-Know-Who. I'm sure Harry hates this as much as you, and the fact that you're not speaking to him, has probably made this experience considerably worse." She gave him a kind smile as they approached the stands, where they saw a tuft of red hair, matching Ron's. Ginny was bouncing up and down with excitement, and Hermione wasn't in sight. Kayla and Ron sat with her and saved a seat for Hermione.

"Hi, I just went to wish Harry good luck." Hermione said as she sat down next to Ron. Just then a booming voice rang throughout the stadium.

"Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, wizards and witches! The time has come for the champions to face their first task. Their objective is simple; they each have to retrieve the golden egg from the middle of the stadium. However they will not be the only being in the arena. The golden egg is going to be guarded by a dragon." Ludo Bagman, former beater of the Wimbourne Wasps and English National team, who was commentating, paused to allow the vast crowd gasp. "They will be given a different species of dragon to defeat. The egg is vital for them to figure out what the second task is. First up, Mr. Cedric Diggory." The crowd erupted. Kayla watched as each champion tackled and defeated the dragon with magic and skills, way beyond those learnt by fourth year student. She winced as Fleur's clothes got caught on fire and she tried desperately to put them out.

"Last but not least, the youngest of our four champions, the Boy-Who-Lived, Harry Potter!" Kayla waited with bated breath as Harry approached the back of the Hungarian Horntail, the most vicious of the four species. The Horntail turned and blasted fire at its new target. Harry ran behind a boulder, trying to gain his breath.

"_ACCIO FIREBOLT_" He yelled, before retreating back to his boulder. Everyone waited in silence, before hearing a shriek from the dragon, followed by a burst of flames leaving its mouth. From the corner of her eye, Kayla saw an object moving towards Harry. It was the Firebolt he had summoned! Just as it was approaching Harry, he jumped on and flew right out of the dragon's way. The crowd burst into applause and cheers. Hermione was punching the air in triumph and everyone was on their feet. A jet of fire just missed the back of Harry's head and many of the Slytherins looked disappointed. Kayla searched for a certain blonde haired boy when she heard a breaking of metal. She whipped her head back to Harry and saw that the Horntail had broken from the chain that was keeping him from flying. Panic arose in the audience as Harry flew back towards the castle. Once they were out of sight, the crowd simply waited and listened for any kind of success on Harry's part. After many wails from the dragon and a lot of waiting, a small figure emerged from the way he came. The noise from the audience was the loudest it had ever been, for Kayla anyway. Probably because she was next to Ginny. Harry swooped down and picked up the golden egg and held it up triumphantly.

Later that evening, there was a huge party in the common room to celebrate Harry's victory. Ron and Harry seemed to be getting on well again.

"I'm glad they worked it out" Kayla thought as she sat in her favourite chair, near the fire, not wanting to get involved with the large crowd forming around Harry as he examined the egg.

She looked into the fire. The long flames licked the log resting in the fireplace. Its strange how something so dangerous can make you feel so calm and relaxed, just by watching it. The amber and yellow tongues almost caressing the log, comforting it before they let it burn in silence.

"Who wants me to open it?" Harry shouted, bringing Kayla's attention back to her surroundings. She could feel a slight headache coming on, and she sensed that being here wouldn't make it any better. Her curiosity was spiked, however, when she realised that the egg was the clue to the second task. There were cheers of encouragement from the crowd as Harry revelled in it for a moment before obliging. As soon as the clasp was undone, a high-pitched wail echoed from the golden object, causing the whole room to cover their ears in fear of being deafened. Harry rapidly closed the clasp and everyone removed their hands from their ears, greeting the quiet with thanks. Harry's expression was just as confused as the rest of the house. Kayla cursed her curiosity as she realised her headache had become considerably worse, with help from the screeching egg.

"Perhaps I should go back to the Room? I doubt Draco will be there after our last encounter." She thought before grabbing her cloak and stepping out of the portrait.

Once she arrived on the seventh floor, she paced in front of the wall until the door appeared. Once she was inside, relief washed over her upon seeing the room without the Slytherin she had been dreading to meet. She walked over to her framed picture of her and her family and smiled. Hermione had made her a potion that you can dip your photos into, to make them move.

"What's on your mind Kay?" The black and white version of Liam spoke, leaving her a little bit stunned. She knew they could move but speak too? Hermione has really outdone herself. She could feel the tears prick her eyes as she remembered all the times she had talked to her brother about anything and everything. She chuckled.

"Oh, this and that." She said, pulling up a stool to sit down in front of the frame. His ten-year-old face looked at her in disbelief.

"I know you better than that. What's wrong?" She smiled and looked at her lap.

"Well… this seems a bit trivial but there's this… f-friend of mine and–"

"Is it the blonde one?" Her head snapped up and looked at his knowing expression.

"How –"

"He comes here a lot. He always seems to mumble to himself, mainly about you." Kayla raised her eyebrows. "He doesn't realise I can hear everything he's saying." He said proudly. She laughed again.

"You always look out for me don't you?" She said. Liam nodded.

"Always have, always will." He said kindly. Before she could help it, the warm tears fell down her cheeks, out of sadness or happiness, she didn't know.

"Aw come on, don't cry!" He said, pouting slightly. She gave him a watery smile before walking over to a box of tissues that had materialised on top of a chest of drawers. She dabbed her eyes and walked back over to the stool.

"Now what did you go and do that for?" He said, putting his hands on his hips in a scolding manner. She shrugged.

"I don't know. I just miss you Liam." She said solemnly before looking back down at her damp tissue.

"I miss you too Kay. But you know what?" She looked up. "I think if you think of me in a happy way, you won't be sad all the time. Like, remember that time I threatened to throw you in the river on a camping trip once, and I slipped and we both went in?" He beamed, trying his best to cheer her up. She laughed.

"Mum couldn't get the mud out of our clothes and ended up chucking them all." She said, chuckling. The two of them laughed for a while about their fond memories before settling into a comfortable silence.

"See? You definitely look better with a smile on your face, rather than crying." He pointed out. She smiled at her late brother.

"He right you know." Said her father. She beamed at her family being together after such a long time, even if they weren't physically with her. Suddenly the door opened and a bright blonde haired boy walked it and looked up, his silver eyes connecting with her azure ones.

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**I hope you enjoyed it! If not, please let me know why in a review. Thanks ~ writingtoinspire**


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately, these character do not belong to me.**

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"Perfect." She thought as she put her hand in her robe pocket, to double check that her wand was there. Draco noticed this action and put his hands up to show that he meant not harm. Her eyes narrowed and she still kept her wand in her hand.

"Please let me just talk to you." He said, looking defeated. She lowered her wand slightly, letting him speak.

"Well, as you know I'm extremely sorry for what I said." He said.

"I think we all know that." Liam said from behind Kayla, crossing his arms. Draco's eyebrows rose. Kayla's expression never changed, giving Draco the impression that he could continue.

"Erm I wanted to ask, how did you cope with being alone?" Her expression softened and she remained silent.

"What I'm trying to say is, who did you talk to when you had a problem, one that you had no idea how to solve?" He said, never meeting her surprised eyes.

"Why do you ask?" She said quietly. He thought for a moment before speaking again.

"Curiosity." He said. She hesitated.

"I didn't." She said, averting her gaze and backing towards the stool to sat down. Draco remained standing, his hands firmly within his pockets.

"Why not?" She shrugged.

"No one would have listened, or taken it to heart." She thought about all the moments she spent alone, keeping her problems bottled up. In fact, she still does. It occurred to her that she hasn't told anyone beside's Draco about Liam. His voice penetrated her thoughts.

"Surely Granger would?" Her eyes locked with his interested grey ones. She kept indifferent.

"I wouldn't really know." His eyebrows furrowed, confusion flitting over his handsome face. He stayed silent, despite wanting her to elaborate. She searched his face for a moment before standing up and heading towards the coat stand, where her cloak hung. She turned towards the black and white photo of her family.

"Bye Liam." He waved at her, concern in his eyes. She turned ever so slightly in Draco's direction and nodded.

"Malfoy". He almost winced at her cold use of his last name. She left, without looking back.

On her way back to the common room, the questions began bouncing around her brain. Why was he asking her those questions? Surely he knew that she was a lonely sod in the past? What is he trying to find out? Does he have a big problem that he needs to share? By the time she returned to the common room her headache had gotten worse again.

"So much for some peace and quiet." She muttered grumpily. When she walked through the portrait, she saw Hermione sitting in her chair, chewing her lip with worry. When she looked up, she smiled.

"Are you alright Hermione?" Kayla said. She nodded.

"I'm just confused by the clue to the second task. What sort of clue is that? An egg that makes you deaf? How very helpful." She said sarcastically. Kayla chuckled at the brunette's annoyance.

"I think you're just tired Hermione. It's nearly eleven thirty. You should get to bed, I know I am. This party is giving me a headache." Hermione nodded and followed her as they made their way to their dorms, saying good night to Ron and Harry in the process. As the two girls were climbing into bed, a thought just occurred to Hermione.

"Where were you coming from when you walked through the portrait?"

"Oh I went to finish off some paintings, although I didn't actually get to." She said. Hermione's eyebrow rose.

"I kind of got caught up talking to my family, or rather a photo of them. After that potion you made for me, I'll definitely be going to the Room more often." She smiled with gratitude and the curly haired witch. As Kayla settled her head on her pillow, she looked at Hermione who was looking at her.  
"What?" She said.

"You're not telling me something." Hermione said, her eyes narrowing mockingly. Kayla rolled her eyes and smiled. Draco's shy figure flashed in her mind.

"Well urm, Draco showed up while I was there." She was reminded of the questions he was asking.

"What did he do?" Hermione said, sounding dangerous.

"Nothing. He was asking me strange questions though. About how I dealt with being..." She looked into the trusting brown eyes of Hermione's. "alone… in the past." A moment of silence paused. Hermione looked at her guiltily.

"Don't look at me like that! It's not your fault. I was generally a lonely person. I pushed new people away. When I used to be friends with Draco I thought that maybe friendship isn't so bad. After he called me… what he did, I lost faith. But then you all came along." She smiled. "Granted, I was a bit wary because I honestly thought you were only doing it to be nice to me. I always thought about why you would want to hang out with me. I'm a completely messed up, only child with a personality that hardly screams 'fun'." She laughed at herself. "I don't deserve your friendship." Hermione looked at her with sympathy.

"Kayla, everyone deserves a friend. No matter how 'messed up' you say you are, which I highly doubt by the way, a friend accepts you for it. No questions asked." Kayla could feel the tears forming in her eyes.

"Now is there any need for tears?" Hermione said jokingly. She shook her head, trying to blink them away. She sat up, preparing herself for what she was going to say.

"Hermione. The reason I _know_ I'm messed up is because of…" She took a deep breath. "the death of my brother, Liam." Hermione's chocolate eyes widened, full of concern and sympathy. She got out of bed and hopped onto Kayla's bed where she gave her a hug, and they sat like that for a few minutes, as Kayla's tears began to flow. Slowly, the story came out, and even after seven years, she could still remember every single painful detail. Every moment she felt isolated, choked by the air around her. Every time she felt guilty, angry, confused. Every time she saw her mother or even her _father_, in tears, all because of a few bullies that took their teasing too far.

"Have you ever seen your parents cry?" Kayla whispered. Hermione thought for a moment. The only tears she had seen her mother shed, were ones of joy. She shook her head slowly.

"Well I hope you never do. It is the single most heart-breaking moment I have ever witnessed. And it will stay with me forever." She said, before a fresh wave of tears came. Hermione had nothing to say, due to her shock and sympathy for the whole family. No mother deserves to lose her child. She could never imagine going to her child's funeral. Her eyes welled but she kept the tears from falling. Kayla didn't need a bawling Hermione on her shoulder.

Once Kayla had finally let everything out, there were no more tears to shed. She didn't fall asleep for a long time but once she did, she felt much more peaceful. Letting out her troubles to Hermione had made her feel much…lighter. As if this large burden was lifted from her shoulders. Even after she had told Draco, she hadn't felt like that.

Kayla felt refreshed in the morning when she woke up, despite only having four hours of sleep. She believed she could accomplish anything today, and the best thing was, she knew she wasn't going to be shedding tears about Liam anymore. That devastating part of her life was a wound. Oozing pain and suffering, but now, it was a scar. A reminder of what happened, but it didn't hurt as much anymore.

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**Sorry its a bit short.**

**Let me know if you enjoyed it or not in a review. Much love to you all ~ writingtoinspire**


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: These characters were created by the wonderful J.K. Rowling.**

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That morning, as Kayla helped herself to a petite portion of cereal, the owl post arrived and Mercury landed right next to her pumpkin juice. She untied the letter from his leg and gave him a bit of Hermione's toast. He gave her an affectionate peck before flying back towards the entrance. She unfolded her letter, which was from her parents and began to read.

_Kayla,_

_I'm glad to hear you've made some friends. Maybe you can ask them to come over in the Christmas holidays?_

_I'm sorry to hear that your friend Harry has been entered in this tournament. Why didn't the teachers pull him out of the competition? Are his parents worried? It must be interesting to see foreign witches and wizards. Do they speak English?_

_We're all fine here. Your father recently sold one of his paintings to a new gallery in the North and there is an opening in a few weeks time. Is there any chance of your Headmaster allowing you to leave the grounds for a weekend in January to join us? You can bring a friend along as well if you wish. Let me know as soon as you can so I can make arrangements for a hotel._

_Gramma and Grandpa say hello and send their love._

_We love you very much sweetheart._

_Mum and Dad_

Kayla smiled at her father's success. He was an aspiring artist, and also teaches art at the local primary school. Kayla gained her knowledge and skill from her father. He too enjoyed painting landscapes and still life. She made a mental note to see McGonagall some time that day, as well as reply to the letter.

"The family say hello." She said as she tucked the letter in her pocket before resuming her breakfast. Harry and Ron smiled at her briefly before returning to their mountain of food, Ron more so than Harry.

Sundays always go by incredibly slowly. It's like waiting for food at a restaurant. You know its coming, and you're just waiting patiently for it, but it feels like time has stopped and that you have been waiting hours when in fact it's only been about fifteen minutes. Kayla hated Sundays. She'd even prefer Mondays to Sundays; at least she had something to do on a Monday. She felt like Sunday is a dead end. All her homework had been completed just after lunchtime (with the help from Hermione of course) and she was stuck doing nothing. Whilst Harry and Ron were still working tirelessly over their Charms essay on the difference in properties between a jinx and a hex, Kayla and Hermione were nursing mugs of hot chocolate in front of the fire, chatting animatedly.

"Please Hermione, can you help us a little bit?" Ron pleaded. The two boys looked at the two girls with puppy dog eyes. They both laughed.

"Honestly you two! If you had made sufficient notes in Charms then you would be finished like us!" Harry looked at Kayla pleadingly. She sent him an apologetic smile. Then it occurred to her that she had forgotten something.

"I need to see McGonagall quickly." She said as she set her hot chocolate down. Hermione nodded.

Once she arrived at her Head of House's office, she knocked on the ornate wooden door and waited. After a few minutes, McGonagall opened the door and raised her eyebrows.

"Miss. Green? Is everything okay?" She said.

"Yes Professor. I was just wondering if I could talk to you about something." The elderly witch nodded and stepped aside to let her student in.

"Take a seat." She said, motioning to a worn burgundy armchair. Kayla obliged and sat down.

"Now, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Well, today I received a letter from my parents and they told me that my father had sold one of his paintings to a new art gallery in the North of England. They were wondering if I would be able to leave the grounds for a weekend to go to the opening? They also mentioned that I would be able to bring a friend if I wanted to. Would that be okay?" She said.

"When is this opening?" McGonagall said.

"They didn't specify, but they said it was in January." McGonagall thought for a moment before answering.

"Would you ask them to send me the details of the opening?" Kayla nodded. "Well, other than that, I see no problem with you and a classmate leaving for a weekend." She said, a hint of a smile playing on her lips. Kayla smiled.

"Thank you Professor." McGonagall nodded in acknowledgement before dismissing her.

Kayla made her way back to the Common Room and sat in her original seat opposite Hermione, where Harry and Ron were still slaving over their essay.

"What did you need to see McGonagall for?" Hermione said, once Kayla had reheated her hot chocolate.

"Just about leaving the grounds for a weekend. My father has sold one of his paintings to a new art gallery opening in the North of England and they wanted me to go to the opening."

"Oh well, when you see them, tell him congratulations from me." Hermione smiled.

"From us too." Harry said, before turning back to his essay and frowning. Kayla smiled at them before returning to her hot chocolate, which was perfectly made by Hermione. She pondered over whom she should bring along. She would most likely take Hermione, seeing as she was Kayla's closest friend, and she also knew about Liam. Draco's face flashed in her mind before she pushed it away hastily. He would never want to come to an art gallery, let alone a muggle one.

The next day, lessons were back in full swing. At breakfast, Harry and Ron were like zombies. Having stayed up all night yesterday finishing their Charms essay had really taken it out of them. Harry sipped on his strong coffee to gain a sense of alertness. Ron was stuffing himself with the usual eggs, bacon, mushrooms, beans and tomato combination, to no one's surprise. Kayla chewed on her meagre serving of cereal with milk and read the Daily Prophet with Hermione. One article in particular that left Hermione fuming was one written by the notorious gossip and frequent truth-stretcher, Rita Skeeter. The headline read:

"_HARRY POTTER'S SECRET HEARTACHE"_ followed by a picture of Harry and Hermione hugging. Kayla rolled her eyes. It was all hippogriff dung and the whole school knew it. Having been friends for three years, the students of Hogwarts never saw Hermione and Harry as a couple, but more like brother and sister.

"What an awful, foul woman!" Hermione exclaimed, causing Ron to jump.

"Listen to this! _Miss Granger, a plain but ambitious girl, seems to have a taste for famous wizards that Harry alone cannot satisfy. Since the arrival at Hogwarts of Victor Krum, Bulgarian seeker, Miss Granger has been toying with both boys' affections._" She read. "That is utter…" She hesitated; knowing the next word she wanted to say was not a pleasant one.

"Go on Hermione, just say it!" Ron said, his eyes glinting mischievously. Hermione frowned.

"It couldn't hurt to just let it out you know." Kayla said, secretly hoping she could see Hermione's foul-mouthed side for once. Hermione hesitated again before letting out a string of curses that would make a sailor blush. Once she was done she exhaled with relief. Harry, Ron, Kayla, Ginny and Neville all looked at her in shock.

"Wow Hermione. I didn't realize being my girlfriend was that awful." Harry said teasingly. Hermione gave him a glare that justified the saying 'if looks could kill'. Harry held his hands up as if to say 'I surrender'.

"It was only a joke!" Kayla chuckled before polishing off her cereal. Once they were all finished, they made their way to the first of their lessons, bracing themselves for a day of boredom. The week carried on in the same way, bringing on more essays and assignments. Kayla hadn't visited the Room all week as a result of this sudden pile up of work.

On the Friday evening, once everyone had eaten, Dumbledore stood to make an announcement.

"On the eve of Christmas day, the Yule Ball shall be held. The Yule Ball is a significant part of the Triwizard Tournament as it allows the three wizarding schools to mingle and 'let their hair down' before the rest of the tasks commence." There was a huge babble of noise and Hermione and Kayla looked at each other as if they had just been told that there was a troll in the castle (just like Halloween in first year). They were both instantly dreading this ball, considering it required dressing up and dancing, both of which Kayla preferred to avoid. She was secretly hoping that the ball was optional.

"There will be dance lessons the weekend before the event," Dumbledore continued. "and only those in the fourth year and above may attend, unless you are invited by an older student." The first, second and third years groaned loudly. "Bringing a date is optional". The boys groaned even more loudly at the idea of bringing a girl to the dance. Asking someone was the worst part. What if they didn't want to go with you? What if they already had a date? The humiliation of rejection is not worth the prospect of having someone to be with at the ball. Kayla cringed internally at the idea of someone she hardly knew come up to her and ask her to be his date. Or, even worse, someone she did know. Then she would have to reject one of her friends and there would be a lot of awkwardness between the two, and Kayla hated awkwardness.

When everyone began making their way back to their common rooms, Kayla stood up and looked up at the Slytherin table, something she hadn't done in a while. She saw a pair of steel grey eyes looking in her direction and she knew exactly whom they belonged to. Did he do that often? She seemed to catch him looking at her on a number of occasions. She wasn't sure whether to ignore it or to consider it a good thing. She shook her head as she realized that Hermione was talking to her.

"I'm sorry, I zoned out. What did you say?" Hermione chuckled.

"I was just saying about the ball. Do you know if we _have_ to go?" Kayla smiled, understanding how she felt.

"I hope not. I can't deal with the dressing up and the make-up and…" She shuddered to prove her point.

"Me too! Maybe we can have a nice night in instead? Just you, Ginny, Luna and I? We could watch muggle movies and eat loads of food, like a sleepover!" Kayla nodded enthusiastically. That sounded much better than wearing a dress and dancing around like a dimwit. Ginny cleared her throat and raised her eyebrow at the two older girls. They looked at their red-haired friend with confusion.

"No way in hell am I letting you two miss this ball! You may never get a chance like this again!" Ginny muttered the password and the three of them crawled through the portrait. They saw that Harry and Ron had already gone to bed, so they carried on their conversation in their usual spot.

"That's the point." Kayla muttered to Hermione, who nodded in agreement as they sat down. Ginny carried on her rant.

"It'll be fun, even if Luna and I aren't going, you still have to be there!"

"Why? We're not part of the tournament." Kayla exclaimed.

"Yes, that's true, but Harry is. He'll need your support, and if you're not there, how will you support him?" Ginny said sincerely. Hermione and Kayla went quiet, contemplating this.

"She's right." Hermione said, turning to Kayla.

"I guess. But we're only going for Harry." She pointed out. Ginny beamed.

"Great! I'll help you choose your dresses and help you get ready on the night! Maybe we can curl your hair Kayla, and Hermione we can straighten yours! Oh and…" Ginny babbled on as Hermione and Kayla winced at the thought of it. Why did they agree to this?

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**I'm sorry I haven't updated earlier but being in my final year before my A levels, there is going to be times when I won't be able to update for several days. And for that, I apologise.**

**But thank you for reading! ~ writingtoinspire**


	19. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer: These characters belong to Queen Rowling.**

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The next few weeks leading up to the Christmas holidays were agonizingly long. Kayla had sent a letter back to her parents explaining that everyone is staying at Hogwarts for Christmas this year because of the Yule Ball. They completely understood and simply said they would see her and her friend when they come to the art gallery opening. Kayla still hadn't asked Hermione about coming with her. Somehow she felt that there was someone else she wanted to ask instead and even though she was incredibly close with Hermione, she felt she needed to patch things up with Draco. Okay, so not so much need as want. She missed him terribly and her feelings for him were still stronger than friendship, not that she would ever let him know. She knew he could never feel the same way. She was plain old Kayla, not a stunning, model-like girl like Astoria or Daphne Greengrass. She had to accept that and work on just being his friend.

Draco on the other hand, had every intention of asking Kayla to go to the ball with him. The problem was how? How was he supposed to ask when he couldn't get a minute alone with her? There was a Hogsmeade trip coming up that weekend, perhaps he could ask her then.

On the Friday before the Hogsmeade trip, Neville walked over to where Kayla, Harry and Ron were sitting. Hermione was at the library, picking up some books that she had reserved.

"Kayla?" She looked up at him. He shifted his feet and nervously gripped his hands.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" He said. She got up and he led her to the opposite corner of the common room, to stop anyone else overhearing their conversation.

"Is everything okay?" She said, concerned by his actions.

"Yeah, erm I was just wondering if you would like to… erm… if you would like to g-go to the b-ball w-with m-me?" He said, looking everywhere but her wide blue eyes. This was what she was dreading. How was she supposed to let him down gently? It's not that she didn't want to go with him in particular; it was just that she didn't really want a date at all.

"Oh, erm… that's very sweet of you Neville but erm…" She paused, trying to figure out how to word her next sentence. Neville looked down at her, knowing where this was going. He smiled weakly.

"It's okay, I understand." He said, taking a step forward to his room where he can hide in shame. She stopped him and he looked at her with confusion.

"Its not that I don't want to go with you, its just… I wasn't really planning on going with anyone. I'm sorry, I wouldn't be a very fun person so go with anyway. I'm pretty much dreading this entire experience." She explained. Neville smiled again, though he wasn't too happy about being rejected.

"I kind of don't want to go alone, y'know?" He said. "And I can't really think of anyone I would be comfortable going with." He sounded deflated. Kayla decided she was going to help him find a date, even if she wasn't taking anyone.

"How about Hannah Abbott?" She said.

"She's going with Ernie."

"Okay… hey, how about Hermione?" Neville shook his head.

"We all know Krum wants to ask her." Kayla's eyes widened. She hadn't heard this!

"Oh well… how about a third year?" Neville shrugged.

"Ginny? She'd make a wonderful date!" She said. Neville thought for a moment, and looked towards Ginny who had just come down from her room and made her way to Harry and Ron. He smiled.

"Yeah okay. Thanks Kayla!" He said, before moving over to Ginny to ask her. She smiled, glad that she was able to help him. She saw Ginny nod her head and wrap her arms around his neck in a hug. Once he had left the group, she walked over and watched as Ginny jumped up and down, excited that she was able to go to the ball after all. Harry and Ron looked at her with amusement. They began to tease her, and she put her hands on her hips, going into defence mode. Kayla waited for the fun to begin. She had seen Ginny like this once before, when she defended Harry in Flourish and Blotts against Draco. Granted, she hadn't heard the whole conversation but she saw Ginny stand in the same way and the look in her eye showed she meant business. She smirked, knowing the boys were going to get an earful.

"Oh I'm sorry, who are you two going with?" She said, looking smugly at them as the smiles on their faces disappeared.

"That's what I thought. If _Neville_ plucked up the courage to ask someone, then you should do the same. You're such a bunch of wusses." She scolded. They remained quiet for a while before Hermione returned, several books in her hand.

"Ginny, Kayla, do you think you could help me take these upstairs?" She said. They two girls nodded and took two books each.

When they got up to the girls dorms and had set the books down, Hermione started to talk in hushed tones.

"You'll never guess what just happened!" She said, looking extremely shocked.

"What?" Ginny said, bouncing up and down.

"Victor Krum just asked me to the ball!" She said. Kayla's mouth fell open. So what Neville said was true. Ginny squealed.

"What did you say?" She said, ecstatic for her friend.

"Well, I said yes!" Hermione beamed. Kayla was happy for her, even if she wasn't sure that Krum was the right person for her to be going with. But she would never say that to her.

"Neville asked me to the ball!" Ginny said. Hermione hugged her friend.

"That's great Ginny!" She turned to Kayla. "Now we need to find you someone." Kayla laughed. Hermione looked at her weirdly.

"What? I'm serious." Kayla stopped laughing. She looked at the two girls suspiciously.

"I don't want a date."

"Why not? Even if they were friend?" Kayla shook her head.

"That would be even more awkward! No, I don't want the pressure of finding a date. I'll go on my own." She smiled reassuringly. Hermione looked at her, as if she was putting a plan together in her mind.

"Okay then. But you're going to have to look drop-dead gorgeous so that all the boys will regret not asking you." Ginny said, before putting an arm around her. She rolled her eyes at the typicality of Ginny's statement. She doubted that would ever happen. Ginny made her way down and Kayla went to follow her when Hermione stopped her.

"What about Malfoy?" Hermione whispered. Kayla stiffened. She had forgotten about him for while back then. She shrugged.

"He would never want to go with me." She said in defeat. Hermione frowned.

"But you love him right?" Kayla nodded reluctantly. Hermione's brow furrowed, before making her way back down to the common room.

She had decided she needed to help Draco and Kayla's relationship along. She knew that Kayla was still miserable. When she thought she wasn't looking, Hermione saw how Kayla really felt, unhappy and overwhelmed. It hurt Hermione that she was not able to make Kayla feel better. So she decided then and there that she was going to make them realise their feelings for each other. All she need was the help of a certain Slytherin. She wrote a letter that she sent from the owlery later that evening.

_Meet me at the Astronomy Tower on Sunday at noon. Don't be late._

_Granger_

Ginny was right, they had to make Kayla look so beautiful that Malfoy would be blown away and confess his love for her. She felt like an evil villain with a master plan. She wanted to rub her hands together like they did in the muggle movies. She was sure it would work.

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**I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Until next time, stay beautiful. ~ writingtoinspire**


	20. Chapter 20

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of these wonderful characters, apart from Aunt Irene and Kayla.**

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On the Saturday, Ginny, Luna, Kayla and Hermione left early to get a head start at the dress shops. Once they arrived in Hogsmeade, there were hardly any other students, which was a surprise considering how many girls still needed dresses.

They went to all the major shops in Hogsmeade, and tried on dress after dress, but none of them were quite what they needed. Luna was excellent at advice and told them what was best in terms of colour, shape and style. But none of the dresses that they tried were what Kayla had in mind. She was close to giving up and not going to the ball at all. It was halfway through the day and the girls had settled down for lunch at the Three Broomsticks. Ginny moaned about the lack of choice in the small wizarding town.

"If only we could go to Diagon Alley." She said, playing miserably with her salad. Once lunch was over, they began to search in the same shops, in the hope that they had missed something before. Suddenly, Luna had an idea.

"There is this little boutique at the end of the road, and it has the most beautiful tailor-made dresses! How did I forget? Probably the nargles." She said dreamily before leading out of the store.

"But Luna, won't they be quite expensive if they're tailor-made?" Ginny said, biting her lip nervously. Luna shook her head.

"I know the owner. She'll sort it out." She winked.

They made their way to the small, secluded boutique. It looked extremely old and not very well looked after, but the displays had the most stunning dresses, that looked very professional. Kayla was sure that no one had seen this store before. They went through the door and the bell at the top of it jingled, letting those inside know that they had customers. A woman who looked about sixty stepped out from behind a desk and beamed at Luna. She was slightly plump and wore a skirt and shirt, with a necklace made of thimbles, similar to Luna's bottle cork one.

"Luna! I should have guessed you were coming. The Heliopaths were particularly loud today." She gave Luna a hug.

"What are Heliopaths?" Ginny whispered. The other two girls shrugged.

"Everyone, this is my great aunt Irene. She's been making dresses since she was our age, so she's a professional. Aunt Irene, this is Hermione, Kayla and Ginny." She said, motioning to each girl.

"Its lovely to meet Luna's friends." Irene said, sounding just like Luna. "What can I do for you all today?"

"Well there's a ball being held at Hogwarts and these three need dresses." Luna explained.

"What about you?" Irene asked. Luna smiled at her.  
"I'm not going." She said simply. Irene didn't pry; she just looked at the three girls individually, and measured them before going into what looked like a storeroom. After a few minutes she came back out, holding a dress. She handed Ginny the floor length dress with thin straps. It was a soft carnation colour, which complemented her fiery red hair perfectly.

"Close your eyes my dear." Aunt Irene said kindly. When Ginny put it on, Aunt Irene made a few adjustments to the bodice to make it fit her better, before allowing her to see it. When Ginny opened her eyes, she squealed.

"Oh my god! It's beautiful!" She said. Hermione smiled.

"You look gorgeous Ginny." Luna said, smiling wistfully. Kayla smiled. She did really look beautiful, and so mature. She felt like a proud mother, despite only becoming closer with Ginny this year.

"You next Hermione." Aunt Irene said smiling, before leading her to the dressing room. After about five minutes, Hermione emerged, wearing a floaty dress that was a cross between lilac and a Carolina blue. She turned to a mirror, and her eyes went so wide, they were in danger of falling out of her head. Ginny clasped her hands together and gasped.

"Wow Hermione! Krum isn't going to be able to take his eyes off you!" She winked and Hermione blushed. Kayla felt tears prick her eyes, yet she had no idea why. She felt one escape and she wiped it away quickly.

"Kayla, are you…crying?" Hermione said with amusement. Kayla shook her head, but could tell that Hermione had already seen her. She smiled sheepishly.

"You just look so amazing." She said quietly. Hermione's eyes watered. She went to hug Kayla when Aunt Irene stopped them.

"Hug after, we don't want to get a pin in her now would we?" The two girls chuckled.

"Last but not least, Kayla." Aunt Irene said, her eyes twinkling. She took Kayla's hand and led her to the dressing room. Once Kayla was left in just her undergarments, Aunt Irene got to work.

"Could you close your eyes for me love?" Kayla obliged. She felt some silky material being pulled over her head and pooling at her feet. She rubbed her hand against it whilst Aunt Irene pinned and adjusted it.

"So Kayla, how long have you known?" She said. Kayla opened her eyes ever so slightly to see Aunt Irene looking at her kindly.

"K-Known what?" She said, unsure if she wanted to know the answer. Aunt Irene looked at her in disbelief.

"That you're a Fortis of course."

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**I'm sorry about the length, but I thought this would be a nice cliffhanger for you all.**

**Thank you for reading and please review ~ writingtoinspire**


	21. Chapter 21

**Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns these characters, not me.**

**I apologize in advance for my awful description of Kayla's dress, it's the best I could do compared to the picture in my head.**

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Kayla looked at her in disbelief.

"I-I'm sorry. A _what_?" Aunt Irene looked at her with confusion.

"Oh my dear, I thought you knew. The way your aura shone, it was like you had connected with your partner." Kayla's eyes widened even further.

"M-My _partner_?" She felt her voice rise. Aunt Irene shushed her gently.

"I'll tell you what, we'll sort this dress out first and then you can go and find out yourself. It's all part of the process, I should not have said anything." She said kindly. Kayla stared at her for a moment before nodding reluctantly. She took a step out of the dressing room and looked in the full-length mirror that was beside her. _Majestic_ was the first word that popped into her head, when she saw the dress. It was strapless and all pearly white. On the skirt, there were two pieces of material - which could only be described as liquid gold - that met in the middle of her stomach and then flowed all the way down to her feet, separating on its way down to show the pearly material underneath. The white of the dress complemented her russet hair and olive skin tone well and made her eyes stand out so much more than usual. Kayla was completely mesmerised by this strange girl staring back at her until she heard Ginny squeal again.

"Oh my! Kayla that is stunning!" Kayla looked at Hermione, whose turn it was to spill the tears. Kayla smiled at her.

"Don't cry Hermione." She said softly, before letting out a breathy laugh. Hermione wiped away the one tear that had fallen, smiling at her friend.

"These dresses are beautiful Aunt Irene!" Ginny gushed, looking down at the wonderful masterpiece that she had on herself. Aunt Irene smiled modestly.

"Its my job, it was my pleasure." Luna beamed at her friends and great aunt. The three girls got changed back into their regular clothes and gathered at the door.

"How much do we owe you Aunt Irene?" Hermione said.

"Oh I wouldn't dream of taking money from you girls." Hermione frowned.

"But you have this shop to keep up. How about we give you 40 galleons each?" Kayla nodded, agreeing that Aunt Irene deserved it. She had created these wonderful dresses; she can't expect them to not pay her back for all her hard work.

"No my dear, I don't even charge my usual customers that amount. I'll tell you what, 20 galleons and we'll call it a deal?" She said, her eyes twinkling, in the same way that Dumbledore's do. Hermione hesitated.

"Hermione, just pay her the money already!" Luna said laughing. They were making their way out of the door after paying and saying goodbyes, when Aunt Irene stopped Kayla.

"You guys go ahead, I'll meet you in a minute." Kayla said to the three girls, who nodded and carried on walking.

"My dear. I apologize for what I said earlier. It was not my place to say so." Aunt Irene said. Kayla nodded slowly.

"So can you explain to me what a Fortis is?" She said with hope. Aunt Irene smiled.

"Unfortunately, that is not my job. The library is a good place to start though." Kayla made a mental note to go to there as soon as they got back. She thanked Aunt Irene for all her help and left. As she walked towards to a shop where the girls had just strolled into, she thought about what Aunt Irene had said.

"A Fortis. I've never heard of it." She couldn't figure out what it could mean. She felt frustrated at her lack of knowledge. Hermione's speaking interrupted her thoughts and she looked up at her.

"What did you say?" She said.

"I said, what was that about?" Hermione said, looking at her confused face with hilarity. Kayla looked around the shop for Ginny and Luna and saw that they were having a quick look at the jewellery.

"I'll explain later." She said in an undertone. Hermione nodded in understanding before the two of them joined the other two.

When the four of them arrived back at the castle, their felt thoroughly happy with their findings.

"I'm going to make my way to the Common Room before dinner. See you all tomorrow." Luna said.

"Me too. Are you guys coming?" Ginny said, starting to walk in the direction of the Gryffindor common room. Kayla was eager to get to the library. She looked at Hermione, who was already looking at her, waiting for her to answer.

"I need to find a book at the library, and I was wondering you could help me, Hermione?" She nodded. "We'll catch up with you later though." She said, smiling at the younger girl. Ginny nodded.

"Shall I take your bags up for you?" Kayla and Hermione thanked her and started walking to the library in silence. Once they got there, they found a secluded corner and Kayla explained what Aunt Irene had already mentioned. Hermione thought for a moment. Suddenly, her face erupted in realisation.

"Wait. I read something about Forti in a book once when I was reading us about basilisks. Hold on a minute." She got up from her chair and went off to find the book. After a couple of minutes, she came back holding a fairly large and heavy book that looked over a few hundred years old. Hermione opened the first page and looked down the list of contents and then flipped to the relevant page. She read the page for several minutes, Kayla looked at her in anticipation.

"Oh here! _Those who are Forti are given the ability to see into someone's mind and read their thoughts as well as look at previous memories. Occlumency cannot restrain the power of a Fortis. They only gain this power once they are of age (seventeen years old) or if they have connected with their partner before then. Their partner is the person who they are destined to be with. There are different ways of connecting with a partner. If the Fortis is strong, all it takes is a touch. More often, a kiss connects the Fortis with their partner. They are able to sense when their partner is hurt, as they will also feel the pain, similar to Veela._ _Forti are extremely rare, there are only twenty four known Forti living in Great Britain at this time. The very first known Fortis was Helena Fisher._" Kayla stared blankly at Hermione who finished reading, before looking up at her. Kayla didn't move as she absorbed the information.

"My mother's maiden name is Fisher." Kayla said quietly. Hermione's eyes widened.

"That must mean that Helena Fisher is an ancestor of yours." Kayla nodded in agreement. The two girls stayed silent, secretly wondering what in Merlin's name they should do.

"Maybe we should go to Dumbledore?" Hermione said. Kayla's eyes widened.

"Why?" Hermione lifted one of her eyebrows.

"Well, he's one of the greatest wizards in the country, if not the world." Kayla thought for a moment. The idea of facing Albus Dumbledore, someone she has never spoken to during her time at Hogwarts made her feel uneasy.

"He's likely to know about this sort of thing Kayla. He could help you." Hermione said gently. After a few moments of thought, Kayla nodded her head with hesitation. Hermione smiled. They took the book out of the library to refer to and made their way to Dumbledore's office. They arrived there several minutes later.

"Do you know the password?" Kayla said. Hermione shook her head and narrowed her eyes.

"Lemon drop?" Nothing happened.

"Chocolate frogs? Acid Pops? Sugar quills?" The gargoyle jumped to life and granted the two girls access. Once they had approached the large wooden doors, they knocked and waited for an answer.

"Come in." Said a voice from the other side of the door. Hermione pushed it open and saw Dumbledore sitting at his desk, reading a book.

"Ah Miss. Granger, Miss. Green. I was wondering when you were going to visit me." Dumbledore said, giving them a knowing smile. Kayla looked at Hermione, who was looking straight at the headmaster, caution in her eyes.

"What can I do for you?" Dumbledore said, laying his book down after marking his page. Kayla stayed silent, hoping that Hermione would explain.

"Well, the thing is that, Kayla, Ginny, Luna and myself were in Hogsmeade today looking for something for the Yule Ball. We went to Luna's aunt's shop and she asked Kayla something about Forti. We looked it up in the library and we found this." She motioned to the book, which had a bookmark in the page they read earlier. "But, we're not quite sure what to do." Dumbledore looked at Kayla who was gazing around the room, interested in the many strange ornaments that he had.

"Miss. Green?" Kayla's attention returned to the wise old man, whose eyes were glistening.

"What do you make of all of this?" Kayla thought for a moment. She wasn't sure how she felt about having the power to look into people's minds without their permission. She felt like she would be invading their privacy. She knew that she would hate having someone searching through her brain. But, that power would be incredible against someone like Pansy if she tried to kidnap her again.

"I-I don't know Sir. It doesn't sound like me. I'm just afraid Aunt Irene got it wrong, and I don't have this incredible power and I got my hopes up for nothing." She said, defeated. Dumbledore smiled kindly.

"My young student, I have noticed that you have had a hard time at this school to start with. This year however, you have found friendship in Miss Granger here, as well as Mr. Weasley, Mr. Potter, Miss. Weasley and unusually… Mr. Malfoy." Kayla's mouth fell open and she quickly closed it. He looked at her with amusement. Hermione looked just as shocked as Kayla did. Albus Dumbledore really did know everything.

"Miss. Granger, would you mind if I spoke with Miss. Green alone for a few minutes?" Hermione nodded wordlessly and slipped out.

"I realise you have had trouble in the past with fitting in, and that has made you doubt yourself. I've had my suspicions as to whom your partner may be. Your aura has shone brighter than ever this year, and so this has motivated you to make new friends." He watched her as the cogs in her brain turned. Her eyes became bigger as she realised what he was implying.

"Sir, you don't think that –" Dumbledore nodded.

"Yes Miss. Green. That is my only guess. Mr. Malfoy is your partner."

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**I would like to say thank you to lovefreely02 for reviewing! And now you know what a fortis is.**

**Until next time my lovelies, goodbye. ~ writingtoinspire**


	22. Chapter 22

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of these wonderful characters, they are the creations of J.K. Rowling.**

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Kayla stared blankly at him. She shook her head.

"Are you sure Sir? There can't possibly be anyone else?" She said, unsure if she wanted to hear his answer.

"It makes the most sense to me. You and Mr. Malfoy only became friends this year, at the same time your aura started to shine it's brightest. I think that's more than a coincidence." He said. Kayla felt uneasy, and then she had a thought.

"Professor. In the book, it mentions a connection that my partner and I have?" She questioned. Dumbledore nodded.

"Yes. If you wanted to gain your powers sooner than seventeen years old, you would have to connect with your partner." Kayla winced. She closed her eyes. How was she supposed to connect with someone who was prejudiced against her? She would have to kiss him! She shook her head. She had never kissed anyone. Yes, she loved him. But he didn't love her, it was quite apparent.

"Miss. Green?" Dumbledore said, bringing her out of her internal battle. Kayla looked into her teacher's eyes.

"I sense that there is some doubt in your mind. Would you like to share these doubts?" He said kindly. Kayla thought for a moment. He knew about her friendship with Draco. Would it be strange to admit that she loved him?

"_Yes_. This is my headmaster for crying out loud!" She thought.

"It's okay Professor. I think I would like to figure this out for myself." Dumbledore nodded in understanding.

"Well if you have an questions, I would recommend visiting Irene Lovegood. She is a Fortis, that was how she was able to recognize your power." Kayla nodded, smiling.

"I will Professor. Thank you for everything." She said, as she made her way towards the doors.

"Oh and Miss. Green, remember. You're a very powerful witch. Embrace your power, don't be afraid of it." He said, his eyes twinkling. Kayla smiled at his wise words and nodded before exiting. Hermione was nibbling on her bottom lip nervously when Kayla came out. She hopped up.

"What did he say?" She said. Kayla took a deep breath.

"He thinks that D-Draco is my partner." She said biting her lip. Hermione's hand flew to her mouth to stop herself from gasping out loud.

"Is he sure?" She said worriedly. Kayla nodded and explained everything that Dumbledore had told her. Hermione remained silent throughout, despite the cogs in her brain whirring speedily.

The next day, Kayla slept in, exhausted after staying up late the night before, her thoughts swirling around her mind. Hermione let her sleep, and made her way to the Hall for breakfast. Once she had finished, she went back up to her dorm until it was time to meet Zabini at the Astronomy Tower. At quarter to twelve she made her way over alone, giving Harry and Ron the excuse that she was going to the library.

She waited for the dark-skinned Slytherin to arrive, and wasn't surprised when he showed up ten minutes late.

"I specifically said to not be late." She snarled.

"Touchy today aren't we Granger?" Blaise said, smirking.

"Look, I'll just make this quick. We need to do something about Malfoy and Kayla." She said impatiently. Blaise raised his eyebrows.

"How much do you know about their friendship?" He said, intrigued.

"Enough to know that she is being ridiculous for ignoring her feelings towards him." She said shrugging.

"What feelings?" Hermione's eyebrows rose.

"Don't be dim Zabini. I know Malfoy likes her too."

"More like love." He thought to himself.

"Me? Dim? Let's be honest." He said winking. Hermione rolled her eyes. " But, to no one's surprise, you're correct Granger. But what should we do?" Hermione mouth turned into a small mischievous smile.

"Well, while you were running _late_, I thought of something. Here's what we do." She explained her idea to him, earning more contribution for Blaise. They had sorted out their plan within the hour and were back at their respective common rooms. Blaise went over the plan in his mind once more, before allowing a smile to form on his face. Their plan was simple, yet effective.

"Granger you know-it-all." He thought whilst smirking to himself.

Hermione arrived back at the dorm, to find Kayla sitting up in her bed, staring into space.

"Are you alright?" Hermione said. Kayla looked up and smiled a tired smile.

"Yeah, I just had the strangest dream." Hermione's eyebrows furrowed as she sat on her bed, facing Kayla.

"We were trying on dresses at Luna's aunt's shop for the Yule Ball and she mentioned something called a Fortis? And then we went to Dumbledore and he said I was one and that Draco and I had to kiss in order for me to become this thing. And I was surprisingly happy about it. It was all very surreal." She shook her head, still thinking about it. Hermione smiled slightly.

"Kayla, that's what happened yesterday." She said cautiously. Kayla's eyes widened.

"Oh god. I didn't dream it did I?" She put her head in her hands. Hermione went over to her bed and enveloped Kayla into a hug.

"Thanks." She said, her voice muffled. Hermione let her go, but stayed by her side.

"You must think I'm crazy." Kayla said, chuckling humorlessly. Hermione shook her head.

"You're not crazy, it's just a lot to absorb in such a short amount of time." Hermione said wisely. Kayla nodded slowly. She stood up and made her way to the bathroom to have a soothing hot shower to clear her head. It was a good thing she finished her homework the evening before along with Hermione. Hermione's worried gaze followed Kayla, when an owl tapped on the window. Hermione let it in and took the letter tied to its leg.

_Granger,_

_We didn't decide when our plan should start taking place. I think during or after the Yule Ball would be more effective._

_B.Z._

Hermione was glad she chose Blaise to help her. He was efficient when he knows what he's doing. She scribbled back a reply saying that during the Yule Ball would be better. She sent it off with the waiting owl, before making her way down to the common room where Harry, Ron, Ginny and Neville sat talking and doing homework.

The next week flew by, with less homework and more excitement as the Christmas holidays were approaching. On the Friday, which was the last day of school, Dumbledore announced that there would be a _compulsory_ dance class on the next day to prepare for the Yule Ball.

"You will be taught in your houses and the lesson will begin at two o'clock. I wish all of those who are not staying with us a very merry Christmas." He dismissed the Hall. Harry and Ron looked scarily pale. Kayla felt queasy.

"Dancing. How awful." Her nose scrunched up, as if she had just smelt something nasty. She has never danced, nor does she plan on it. Hermione caught up with her on their way to the common room.

"Dancing lessons! It sounds terrible." She said, shuddering. Kayla nodded in agreement.

"And it'll probably be a pair's dance. We're going to need a partner." Hermione looked at Kayla with wide eyes. The two of them decided that if they didn't find a partner in the lesson, they would go with each other for a laugh.

The lesson finally rolled over the next day and the whole house was dreading it, except for a couple of girls, Kayla and Hermione being none of them. Hermione practically had to drag Kayla into a large classroom where all the desks had been removed and all that was there were benches on both sides and a huge gramophone in the middle. Most of the students of Gryffindor had already gathered in the Hall, the boys on one side, the girls on another.

"Come on Kayla! They're going to start any minute." Hermione said, her hand tugging on Kayla's wrist. Kayla shook her head.

"No I changed my mind. I don't want to Hermione, don't make me go." She said childishly, pouting her lips. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Don't be ridiculous, its fine. We can both make fools of ourselves." Kayla groaned as Hermione pulled her towards the girl's side.

"Settle down everyone." McGonagall said in her rich Scottish accent. Everyone got quieter, apart from a few girls who were whispering excitedly.

"The Yule Ball has been a tradition of the Triwizard Tournament since it's inception. Our guests and we gather in the Great Hall for a night of well-mannered frivolity. As representatives of the host school, I expect _each and every one_ _of you_ to put your best foot forward, and I mean this literally because the Yule Ball is first and foremost, a dance." The girls all squealed and erupted into murmurs of enthusiasm, whilst the boys groaned in annoyance. McGonagall waved her hands to gain attention again.

"Quiet now! The House of Godric Gryffindor has commanded the respect of the wizard world for nearly ten centuries. I will not have you and the course of a single evening besmirching that name by behaving like a babbling, bumbling band of baboons. Dance, is to let the body _breathe_. Inside every girl, a secret swan slumbers, longing to burst forth and take flight." Kayla rolled her eyes.

"That's rubbish. I'd consider myself an elephant." She thought.

"Inside every boy, a lordly lion prepared to prance. Mr. Weasley." Kayla's eyes went to Ron, intrigued by what was about to take place.

"Will you join me please?" He got up slowly, completely unhappy to be picked upon.

"Now, place your right hand on my waist." Ron's eyes widened. Kayla stifled a laugh.

"Where?" He said in panic. McGonagall fixed him with a look.

"My waist." She repeated. Ron reluctantly put his hand where she requested. Fred or George, whom Kayla couldn't tell, wolf whistled and Ron sent him a death glare.

"Mr. Filch." She said, as Filch started the gramophone. Orchestral music filled the air.

"Okay and one, two, three, one, two, three…" She kept in time and tried to manoeuvre Ron around to teach him the steps.

"Everybody come together." The girls hopped up instantly, whilst Kayla and Hermione stayed back, not wanting to dance.

"Boys, on your feet." McGonagall said. None of the boys moved, until Neville stood. He made his way forward and grabbed Ginny's hand. Kayla smiled at his bravery. The two of them began to dance, just as McGonagall and Ron had done beforehand. The rest of the boys were hesitant, but they finally plucked up enough courage and soon the room was filled with dancing couples. Hermione and Kayla still stood at the sidelines and watched their classmates dance nervously. Harry walked towards the two girls and smiled.

"How dull is this?" He complained. Kayla nodded in agreement. Not long after Harry, Ron sauntered over.

"Having fun?" He said sarcastically. Hermione grimaced in return.

"You four, I suggest you take part in this lesson. Especially you Mr. Potter, you are a Triwizard champion. Don't disappoint me." McGonagall said sternly. Harry looked his three friends, panic in his eyes. He held his hand out to Hermione.

"Might as well. M'lady?" He said, over exaggerating his words. Hermione smiled and put her hand in his and he led her to the dance floor. Ron looked at Kayla, who was looking at Harry and Hermione laughing at something.

"D'you want to join them?" Ron said nervously. Kayla looked at him and smiled nervously, making her way to Harry and Hermione, Ron trailing behind. He put his hand on her waist and she put her hand on his shoulder, holding the other one. Ron tentatively stepped forward, and Kayla followed his lead, her eyes trained on her feet. She could feel Ron trembling ever so slightly. She looked at him.

"Don't worry Ron, I'm pretty nervous too. I can't stand dancing." She said, hoping to make him feel a bit better. Ron smiled slightly, just as she stepped on his foot.

"Oh! Sorry." She said biting her lip and looking back down at her feet to ensure she didn't do it again.

"It's fine. Brace yourself, I'll probably do the same." She chuckled and they carried on, moving slowly and timidly, afraid to make a mistake. By the end of the hour, most of the house was quite confident with their dance moves. Kayla however, still could not see herself waltzing in a long dress with a boy, whether he was a stranger or not.

As the dance lesson was going on, Draco was taking a stroll around the castle, collecting his thoughts together. As he walked along, he noticed a classroom door open and a mass of students come out, chatting away like monkeys. Draco narrowed his eyes and got a better look at the students. They were all Gryffindors. He saw several of the girls giggling and talking excitedly.

"They probably had their dance lesson." He thought, shuddering. He had his earlier that day. He could distinctly remember Pansy launching herself at him and wrapping his arm around her waist forcibly. His thoughts were interrupted when he saw a flash of bright red hair. He had no guesses about who that belonged to. He started to walk faster towards Weasley as he realized whom he was with. He could only just hear their conversation.

"You weren't as terrible as me. I'm sure I stepped on your feet at least seven times!" Kayla said, embarrassed.

"You weren't that bad. I might to get some ice on my foot before it starts to swell though." He said cheekily. Kayla shoved his arm, still smiling. Draco felt a pang in his chest.

"She danced with him?" He thought. He could imagine the two of them dancing together. What if they were going to the ball together? He would be able to handle seeing the girl that he loved with the weasel he despised. He had to find someone so that he didn't loose face in front of Kayla on the night. He marched in the opposite direction, towards his common room, in order to find a certain pug-faced Slytherin.

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**I realise that McGonagall's little speech at the dance lesson was from the movie but I thought it would be easier to just use that dialogue instead of make up my own. Thank you very much for reading! ~ writingtoinspire**


	23. Chapter 23

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters.**

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It was three days to Christmas and there was a definite air of anticipation in the castle. Kayla had already gotten her presents for everyone, even Draco. She had a lot of trouble figuring out what to get him for quite a while. When shopping in Hogsmeade for dresses, she spotted something that would be perfect. It screamed Draco. She didn't care if it was a bit extravagant, he was worth it. She was going to send it to him anonymously. She didn't want him to feel pressure to buy something for her. She had gotten Hermione to write the note, due to the fact that her handwriting was much neater than Kayla's and Draco wouldn't recognize Hermione's.

On Christmas Eve, Hermione, Harry, Ron, Ginny, Neville and Kayla lounged in front of the fire blissfully. Ron and Harry were playing Wizard chess, with Neville watching them, occasionally contributing to help Harry out.

The three girls were chatting merrily about Christmas traditions in their family.

"My family and I would all sit together and watch 'It's a Wonderful Life' every year. It never gets old." Kayla smiled, remembering the memory. She had five older cousins, all boys except one; they were all children on her father's side, so none of them had magical blood. Her mother was an only child, which would explain why Kayla was the only magical child in her family. Her cousins would all try and convince her to perform magic, even though they knew she wasn't allowed until she was seventeen. Hermione had been describing the usual quiet Christmas she has with her small family whilst Kayla had been reminiscing. Just as Ginny started to talk, Seamus walked through the portrait, followed by Luna. She was carrying three large bags. The three girls smiled at their Ravenclaw friend.

"Hi Luna. How did you get in?" Hermione said.

"Seamus let me in. Look what my great aunt sent." She dangled the bags in front of the three girls faces and they jumped up to take their dress.

"Please thank your aunt again for us Luna." Ginny said, sneaking a peak at her attire. Luna nodded. Kayla beamed at her dress. She didn't usually wear dresses and much preferred her combination of t-shirts and jeans, but even she couldn't wait to wear this one.

"I told my mum about my dress and she sent me the most beautiful necklace saying that I could borrow it if I wanted to. It goes so well with the dress. She said that it was a gift that Dad gave to her." Ginny said. All the girls ventured up to their dorms where they sorted out what accessories to go with their attire, Ginny more so than the other two. Luna stayed until curfew to advise Kayla and Hermione, without much luck.

Kayla and Hermione stayed in Ginny's room that night, as her roommates had gone home for the holidays. Kayla woke up to Ginny jumping on hers and Hermione's bed shouting "Merry Christmas!" at the top of her voice. The two older girls watched with amusement as Ginny rushed around, getting ready quickly so that she could open her presents. The other two decided to stay in their pajamas until after all the presents were opened, purely because they were lazy.

The three girls walked to the boys' rooms and opened their presents together. Harry and Ron had gotten Kayla a joint present, which was a new leather-bound notebook, which added pages when you finished the previous ones. Kayla had recently finished her last one, and had complained that there were never enough pages in it. Hermione had gotten her a gold necklace with a blue gemstone in it, which were the exact colour of her eyes.

"You can wear it tonight." She said. Ginny had given her a burgundy jumper, which was incredibly warm. Her parents had sent her two gifts. The first one was a Christmas present and inside were various t-shirts. The second one was a photo album, filled with photos of her and her family. She beamed at Liam's smiling face. There were a few gaps, presumably for some pictures of her friends. On the inside, there was a small note:

_Happy Birthday sweetheart._

What Kayla hadn't told her friends was that her birthday was actually on Christmas day. Hermione saw the note and looked her, bewildered.

"When was your birthday?" She asked. Kayla hesitated.

"Erm… its today." She said. Everyone stared at her, bug-eyed.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Ginny said. She shrugged.

"I don't like the idea of getting older." She confessed. Hermione smiled.

"Doesn't mean you couldn't tell us." She said, putting an arm around Kayla's shoulders. Kayla smiled.

"Well, at least you know for next year." She said. Hermione smiled. The girls stood up and moved towards the door to get ready when Ron spotted something.

"Hey! There's still one present left." He said, picking up a small box, wrapped beautifully in gold paper. He looked at the note and then to Kayla.

"It's for you." He said, handing it to her. Her eyebrows furrowed. Who could it be from?

She looked at the note written in green ink, which read:

_Merry Christmas Kayla._

She had seen that handwriting before, but she couldn't put her finger on it. She opened the wrapping paper carefully, making sure she didn't rip it. Inside was a navy blue box. She opened the lid and her mouth fell open. Inside was a silver charm bracelet. It had one charm, a silver dragon with a small green gem incrusted in it to make the eye. She stared at it with awe. She couldn't think of anyone who would have sent it to her. She looked up from the gift and looked at all her friends.

"Don't look at us, we didn't send it." Harry said. Kayla looked back down at the beautiful gift and put it on her wrist. Hermione was staring blankly at the bracelet. She had an idea of who sent it. Although, she wasn't going to say whom until she was certain.

Meanwhile, in the Slytherin common room, Blaise, Draco, Crabbe and Goyle sat in their dorm, ready to open their presents. Draco rolled his eyes with each present he gained from his parents. They all consisted of expensive clothing, including dress robes for this evening and cologne. His parents never really thought about what they could get him, they just buy a lot of expensive items that have no meaning behind them. Blaise had gotten him a book on dragons, and Crabbe and Goyle got him sweets. He had one present left to open, but he had no idea who it was from. There was a note written in red ink, which read:

_Merry Christmas Draco._

When he unwrapped it, inside was a black velvet box. He opened the lid. Inside lay a silver brooch in the shape of a dragon. It was breathing fire, and there were red gems to represent this. He marveled at it. Who could have sent him this incredible present? Not his parents or there would have been a message from them. He looked at Blaise who shrugged. Crabbe and Goyle would never have gotten him something so thoughtful. He watched as the red gems glistened in the light, as he thought of someone who could possibly know him well enough to send him something that they knew he would love more than any other gift he has ever received. No one came to mind. Blaise eyed the present with interest. It really was a wonderful gift. How Draco couldn't tell who had sent the gift, he would never know. He, on the other hand, had a pretty good idea about who it could be. He would never say anything to Draco of course; he'd just deny it.

"Do you want to go down to breakfast?" Blaise said, standing up and stretching. Draco nodded without taking his eyes off of his gift. He fastened it to his robes and followed Blaise down to the common room. When they arrived at the Great Hall, they admired the decorations. They had gone all out this year, having four trees instead of two, with snow falling from the ceiling on top of them. The trees were decked out with tinsel, baubles and lights, each with an enormous star on top which were the colour of each of the four houses. As Draco sat down at the Slytherin table his eyes immediately went towards where Kayla could potentially be sitting. He searched the table for a pair of blue eyes or russet hair. He finally spotted her a little further up the table, talking with the Golden Trio and some others. She smiled when Ron made a joke. His heart constricted slightly. His eyes went to her wrist where a silver bracelet hung. He only looked at it for a brief moment before he saw her turn and his eyes travelled back up to meet her beautiful pools of blue.

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**I hope you enjoyed this chapter. The next one will most definitely be the Yule Ball ~ writingtoinspire**


	24. Chapter 24

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this fan fiction, minus those that I have mentioned in previous chapters.**

**I whole-heartedly apologise for being so late with this chapter, but now it's here! Enjoy.**

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At four o'clock, the pampering began. Ginny had made enough space in her room for Hermione, Kayla and herself to get ready. Luna helped them with hair and make-up. She worked quickly and efficiently whilst making sure that they looked perfect. Once they were all dressed and ready, they had a few pictures, taken by Luna, and they made their way down. They were already running five minutes late, but Hermione stopped Kayla as she began to walk down the stairs.

"Kayla, I'm nervous." She said, biting her bottom lip. Kayla smiled at her kindly.

"Hermione, do you like Krum?" Hermione hesitated.

"Y-Yes."

"There was a reason he asked you to the ball." Kayla said sincerely. Hermione looked at her and fiddled with her hands.

"W-Why is that?"

"_Because he likes you too._ He likes the real you Hermione. The girl who can't put a book down until it's finished. The girl who will substitute as your mother during the week. The brave Gryffindor who is the smartest witch of our age. You shouldn't care about anyone else. Just focus on him. He's your anchor. He will keep you from going astray. There is nothing to be nervous about." Hermione grinned, took Kayla's hand and squeezed it. "But if he hurts you, he'll be the one feeling nervous once he knows that the Boy-Who-Lived, an angry Ron, an angry _Ginny_ and I will be after him." She said. Hermione chuckled.

"You give really good advice Kayla." She said as they carried on walking towards the Great Hall. Kayla smiled slightly and looked down at her mysterious present. She didn't have the heart to take it off, even if it didn't match her dress (according to Ginny). She was drawn to it. Hermione followed her line of sight and realized what she was looking at.

"Are you sure you haven't got any idea about who could have sent it to you?" Kayla shook her head and stayed quiet. Hermione said nothing more. She knew Kayla would find out soon enough. That is, if her's and Blaise's plan is to go as intended.

They had approached the last flight of stairs before the Great Hall when Kayla stopped Hermione. She looked at the brunette before throwing her arms around her neck, giving her a long, hard hug. Once they let go, they gave each other a look that said 'Here goes nothing' and began to descend the stairs. That was when Kayla saw a flash of platinum hair followed by a black bob. She felt a pang in her chest. She went back up the two steps that they had started down, and Hermione followed her.

"What's wrong?" Hermione whispered. Kayla took a deep breath.

"Nothing. You go. I'll be down in a minute." She said, closing her eyes. Hermione nodded hesitantly and made her way down the stairs. She was focusing on not tripping up when she heard whispers from the bottom of the stairs. She looked up and saw everyone in the hallway looking at her. She looked behind to see if Kayla was there, and she still hadn't emerged from behind the corner. Were they looking at her? She spotted Harry's jet-black hair among the crowd, standing next to his date, Parvati. By this point she had reached the bottom of the staircase and she gave him a little wave. She saw Victor making his way towards her, looking smart in his burgundy dress robes. He bowed and offered his hand, which she accepted. As she started walking, she saw Draco staring at her, his eyes wide. She jerked her head backwards slightly, indicating towards Kayla, who had conveniently started to descend down the stairs.

Draco had almost missed her gesture. He turned to face the way that Granger was getting his to look at and he was sure that he had been put under a trance. He saw this angel descending from the stairs timidly, but to him it was just so graceful. Her dress trailed behind her slightly, covering her feet and made her look like she was floating. He looked around him to see that no one else had noticed this girl; they were fixated by Hermione's transformation. Kayla had her eyes focused on her feet to prevent herself from tripping, but she looked up for a moment and her eyes locked with his. He couldn't look away. After what felt like an eternity, she broke the gaze and stepped down the last step. Before he could go over to her, Pansy grabbed his arm and yanked him over to the Hall. He glanced behind his shoulder to see her standing alone, looking at the pair of them, pain laced into her sapphire eyes.

She had seen Draco and Pansy together before she even made her way down the stairs. Seeing them for a longer period of time was just carving wounds deeper and deeper into her heart. When they had looked at each other, his face was unreadable. He had looked unbelievably handsome in his black dress robes, which made her feel even worse. She knew this was going to be a long night. She trailed behind the crowd alone, and made her way towards Ron and Padma. Ron looked at her and smiled and looked away again. It took him a moment before turning back and giving her a proper look.

"Wow. You look… erm…" He couldn't get his words out. Kayla chuckled.

"Thanks?" She said, before looking to the door where the champions entered with their partners.

"Is that Hermione Granger with Victor Krum?" Padma said, craning her neck to get a better look. Ron paled. He too craned his neck, and then looked at Kayla. She nodded and Ron desperately had another look. He hadn't said anything. She saw his fists clench.

"What's wrong?" Kayla said, confused by Ron's reaction.

"What's wrong? She's with _him_. He's on the other side. Who knows what she's been telling him about Harry's strategies!" Kayla looked at Ron's body language. His face was going red and he remained in a stiff position. Suddenly she realized how he felt. He was jealous.

"Ron." She began gently. Ron whirled around to face her. "Think for a moment about who it is you're talking about. This is Hermione. Your best friend. The one girl that you can trust more than anyone, definitely more than me." She explained in hushed tones. Ron's brow furrowed. "She would never tell Krum anything. What is the real reason you're so angry?" She looked at him pointedly. He stared at her, staying quiet.

"If you wanted to ask her in the first place, why didn't you?" She said cautiously. Ron stared at his feet.

"Who says I wanted to ask her?" He said quietly, not looking at Kayla. She rolled her eyes.

"I do, judging by your reaction to who it is she's with. You resent yourself for not asking her sooner and so you question the other guy's motives. Just don't say anything that will upset her okay?" She said. Ron looked at her for a moment before sitting down at a table. By this point the first dance had finished and Harry and Parvati had made their way to the table and sat down.

"Alright mate?" Ron said, amusement on his face. Harry narrowed his eyes and said nothing. Kayla smiled. Once they had eaten dinner, most people began to dance again. Kayla remained at her table, wanting to avoid dancing at all costs. From the corner of her eye, she saw something floating towards her. She looked to see that it was a paper airplane, which seemed to have been charmed to fly to the recipient. The plane stopped in front of her and she looked in the direction it came from. No one seemed to be acknowledging the hovering object and so she took it and unraveled it. Inside read:

_Meet me at ten thirty at the Room of Requirement._

It had not been signed by anyone, but she made an educated guess that it was Draco. She looked to see if he was nearby and then saw that he was on the dance floor with Pansy. Another sharp pain was felt in her chest. Why would he send her this? He's obviously more comfortable with Pansy then her. So who would send this to her? Only him and Hermione know that the Room is their meeting place. Unless someone else knows. Whilst Kayla battled internally with herself, halfway across the room, Draco was doing the same thing. He too had received a note saying the exact same words. Pansy had dragged him onto the dance floor and pleaded that he dances with her. He only said yes to stop the incessant whining. As she led him around the dance floor, he could feel the letter burning a hole in his pocket. Surely it can't be her. He looked over subtly to where she was sitting. She was looking at the floor, her eyes glazed over. Even here she has been left alone. Where was Weasley? He looked for the redheaded twerp and saw that he was with the Boy Wonder on a bench, looking gloomy. Why had he left her? Surely if he's her date, he should help her to have a good time. Draco scowled.

Kayla watched the two of them dancing and sighed. There she sat, alone, whilst everyone else enjoyed themselves. She looked at the time and saw that it was twenty to ten. She still had the note in her hand and decided to go to the Room of Requirement and talk to Liam before the mystery person showed up. She walked out of the door quickly and quietly.

Draco, who was still dancing, decided he needed to get away from Pansy. He didn't want her to make a scene though. After a few minutes and some more dancing, he had made the decision to make a quick getaway.

"What's the problem Draco?" Pansy's sugary sweet voice rang in his ears and he cringed before looking at her. She fluttered her eyelashes and moved closer to him.

"I'm just going outside for a moment."

"I'll come with you!" Pansy said, grabbing his arm.

"No, I want to go alone." With that, he walked briskly towards the large doors, and up the stairs towards the meeting point. What Draco didn't know was that a certain best friend of his was watching. Once he left, he made his way towards Hermione, who was chatting merrily to Krum. He grabbed her arm and led her to a corner of the room.

"Zabini! Do you mind?" Hermione said as she yanked her arm out of his grasp.

"The plan's working." He said quietly. Her face lit up.

"Really? Where are they?"

"Hopefully, they'll be in the Room of Requirement shagging." Hermione's mouth fell open and she hit Blaise on the arm, hard.

"Jeez Granger, I'm only kidding." He said, rubbing his arm. She narrowed her eyes and began to walk away when she heard her name again. She turned around and looked at Blaise, daring him to say anything atrocious like he just did.

"You look good." He said coolly before walking away. Hermione smiled and returned to Krum, who was watching the two of them questioningly.

Meanwhile, Kayla paced back and forth in the Room, racking her brain to try and figure out who could possibly have asked to meet her here. She stopped when she saw the almost finished portrait of Draco. She eyed it for a moment, before walking towards it and lifting it onto an easel. Five minutes of focused work and she was finished. She looked at her piece and studied his pale face in the moonlight of the painting. She sighed.

"What's wrong little sister?" Liam said. Kayla smiled and walked towards the frame.

"I got this letter from an anonymous person asking to meet me here." She said, biting her lip. Liam's eyebrows furrowed.

"And you have no idea who it could be?" He said. She shook her head and looked at him, hoping for some advice.

"Well, who do you want it to be?" He said sincerely. Kayla could answer that one with ease, but the thought of him made his name freeze in her throat.

"Let me guess. Draco." Liam said. Kayla's eyes widened and she hesitated before nodding slowly. Liam looked at her, expecting her to elaborate.

"The thing is, I've been having feelings for him for quite some time now. But he can't possibly feel the same way. His family looks down at me, and I'm pretty sure that his views can't be changed so easily. I thought that he had changed when we were friends but he still called me… what he did. I just can't get him out of my head." She let out a frustrated sigh. "I know I should be forgetting about him but I just can't. It's hard to explain, but I feel drawn to him. Like he's meant for me, and I'm meant for him." She knew the reason she was drawn to him but she wasn't going to explain that when a person could walk in at any moment and hear her. Liam stayed quiet the whole time, taking in Kayla's speech before speaking again.

"Well, you never know until you try Kay." He said.

"I'm just scared that he'll reject me. I don't have any experience with this sort of thing and the fact that I have fallen so hard for the first time is difficult to deal with." She looked down at her shoes. She heard the door open and she whipped around to see a familiar pair of grey eyes staring at her, wide in shock.

"You sent me the letter?" They said in unison.

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**I hope you liked it! Please review ~ writingtoinspire**


	25. Chapter 25

**Disclaimer: I own none of the characters in the Potter-verse.**

**I apologize for the wait but I wanted to make it perfect for you guys!**

**I'm also sorry about it being unusually short.**

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"Wait, I didn't send you a letter." Draco said, stepping towards her. Kayla's eyebrows furrowed.

"I didn't send you anything either." She stepped forward and held her hand out for the note. He gave it to her and watched her read it, as well as her own. Her eyes narrowed and she moved the two pieces of paper closer together.

"This is the same handwriting." She pointed out before studying it for a few more minutes. She recognized the handwriting from somewhere, but she couldn't put her finger on it.

"This is Hermione's writing!" She said suddenly. She handed the notes to Draco, and his face lit up with recognition. Whilst he had been studying, she watched him. Her eyes flitted over a brooch he was wearing. Her heart leapt.

"I knew I had seen this writing somewhere before! But wait… why would Granger send me a present?" He said quietly, staring into space. Kayla's eyes went back to his face upon hearing what he had said.

"What do you mean?" She said slowly. Draco looked down at her.

"Well, I received a present today and it was anonymous. But this handwriting matches the writing on the card." Kayla looked at her feet.

"Erm… yeah, about that…" Draco's eyebrows furrowed. "I sent that to you." She said, looking up at him, smiling slightly. His heartbeat quickened. He smiled.

"I love it. You shouldn't have spent the money on me." He said sincerely. Kayla shrugged.

"You were worth it." She thought. Draco glanced down to her wrist, to see his present still fastened on it. He beamed.

"I'm glad to see you liked my present." He said, his eyes still on her bracelet. Kayla looked down and her eyes snapped back up to him.

"You sent me this?" She said, lifting her wrist. He nodded. She smiled. "I should have guessed, considering there was a pretty obvious hint." She said, taking the small dragon in her hand and examining it.

"Thank you. It's so beautiful." She said, smiling at him again. Draco took a moment and studied her face. He scanned over her radiant features. She was just as perfect as he remembered.

"What?" She said, realizing he was staring at her.

"N-Nothing." He said, running a hand through his previously well-styled hair.

"So did you have a good time tonight?" She said, remembering he was with Pansy. He shrugged, meaning to say that it was okay.

"Pansy seemed to be enjoying herself." She said casually. He looked into her eyes. They had the same look that they had when he saw her for the first time that evening… she was upset.

"What about you? Weasley wasn't being a very good date by leaving you." He said bitterly. Kayla's eyebrows rose so high, they were in danger of being lost in her hair.

"Who told you that Ron was my date?" She said with suspicion.

"I just assumed. You were awfully chummy when I saw you after your dance lesson." He grumbled. Kayla had a look of pure shock on her face.

"We just danced together because there was no one else around." He looked at her, clearly not convinced. "We're just friends Draco. I didn't go with anyone today." She said. His eyebrows shot upwards.

"Wait. You were alone today? You had no date?" He asked, frustrated that he assumed so quickly that she was with Ron. He could have asked her! She nodded and made her way to a sofa that had appeared. He followed her and they sat down together. They sat in silence.

"So you didn't get to dance with anyone?" He said, after several minutes. She looked at him, unsure of his reasoning behind his question.

"No… why?" She said. He looked at her before standing up and holding his hand out.

"Let's dance." He said, a cheeky smile forming on his face. Kayla's eyes widened.

"B-But there's no music." She said, hoping he wouldn't force her. He shrugged at her statement.

"We can dance without it." He said simply. She tried every excuse possible to get out of dancing with him. If she had been embarrassed about stepping on Ron's feet, how would she feel about messing it up with someone that she loved?

"Why don't you want to dance with me?" He said, looking dejected. Her heart sank at his face. She sighed.

"I can't dance. I would probably gravely injure you just by stepping on your feet so many times." She babbled. While she spoke, Draco tried hard not to laugh at himself. There he was, thinking that she didn't want to dance with him specifically but really, she claims she can't dance at all. Once she had finished speaking, he took her hand and stood her up. She looked at him in horror.

"Honestly I can't do it." She said quietly.

"I'll help you." He said, looking deep into her bright eyes. She reluctantly nodded and put her hand on his shoulder while his arm snaked around her waist. He took her other hand and stepped forward slowly, allowing her time to follow his lead. Out of nowhere, slow orchestral music started to play and Kayla looked up from her feet to find the source.

"I guess there's a reason it's called the Room of Requirement." She said, smiling, her gaze returning to her feet. She felt like she was going to trip over any minute in the shoes she was wearing.

"One second." She said, stopping the two of them moving. Draco raised an eyebrow as she sat on the sofa. Once she started removing her shoes, he understood. She walked back over slowly, as if she was walking towards her impending doom. Which in her opinion, she was.

"Okay." She said, repositioning herself. She looked up to see his familiar smirk on his face.

"What?" He chuckled.

"I forgot how short you were." Kayla pulled a face at him and looked back down at her bare feet. Draco stopped them and he put his hand underneath her chin and lifted it so that her eyes met his. Their faces were inches apart.

"Don't look at your feet. Look at me. You won't mess up, I promise." He said in an undertone. Her eyes looked at his lips quickly, before returning to his eyes. She nodded. Draco smiled.

"Plus, if you step on my feet, it won't hurt now that you've taken off your shoes." He said, hoping to make her feel better. She smiled at him, a smile so big that it knocked the breath out of his lungs. For several minutes, they danced in comforting silence, their eyes never leaving each other's.

Surprisingly, Draco was right. She didn't step on his feet throughout the duration of the song. Once it ended, the two of them just stood there, their hands entwined. Draco looked at Kayla's lips and he leaned in ever so slightly, to give her time to pull away if she wasn't ready. She stayed completely frozen and he moved even closer. They were millimeters away from each other and Kayla closed the gap.

Warmth rushed over the two of them when their lips met. Kayla's hands let go of Draco's so she could drape them around his neck and he wrapped his arms around her waist to bring her closer. Kayla could feel the power rising up within her and almost felt as if she was going to burst from it. She broke the kiss and looked into his wonderful grey eyes that she loved so much. Suddenly, she heard his voice.

_She is perfect._

Her eyebrows furrowed when she saw that his mouth had not moved. That was when she realized that Dumbledore was right after all.

Draco was her partner.

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**I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter. Hopefully the next one will be longer! Until then, good bye ~ writingtoinspire**


	26. Chapter 26

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters.**

**I wasn't quite sure how to go about this chapter because I wanted it to be perfect for you guys. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it!**

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"What's wrong?" Draco said, confusion in his eyes. She looked at his handsome face.

"Let me just try something okay?" She said. He nodded slowly. She closed her eyes and focused completely on him.

"_Draco, can you hear me?"_ She thought, hoping that her suspicions were correct.

"_Yes!"_ She heard his voice in her mind and her eyes snapped open to see his wide ones, looking at her with bewilderment. She smiled.

"I have some explaining to do…" She said, chuckling.

"Damn right you do! What's going on?" He said, looking scared out of his wits. She led him over to the sofa and sat down. She explained everything that she had learnt about Forti and their extraordinary power.

"So, I'm your partner?" He said slowly, still letting the information to absorb. She nodded, waiting for his reaction. He sat completely still, not saying a single word. Kayla began to get nervous at the silence.

"I'm sorry." She said. Draco looked at her with confusion.

"Why are you apologizing?" He said.

"Well, this is kind of a lifetime commitment and I feel bad for dragging you into it. You should be allowed to choose whoever you want to be with." She said reluctantly.

"Kayla." He said, taking her hand and holding it in his. "I wouldn't want to choose anyone else." She looked up from her lap and saw the sincerity in his facial features.

"I love you." Her heart leapt at those words. "I've loved you ever since that day in the Potions lesson when we were made partners. I realized that I had to get you to forgive me, because I need you in my life." She could feel the happy tears welling in her eyes. She wasn't going to let them fall though. She had done enough crying this year to last her a lifetime.

"I love you too." She said, beaming at him. His silver eyes lit up and he leaned in to kiss her again. She responded well, her lips soft against his. She could feel his lips curling up onto a smile as he kissed her. She broke away and looked up at him.

"What are you smiling at?" She said in amusement. His grin got even wider.

"I'm just so happy." He said. She smiled a smile just as big as his. His gaze shifted to something behind her and she turned to follow it. He stood up and made his way towards the painting of himself that she had finished. She walked up a little behind him, and decided to test her new powers.

"_What's on your mind?"_ She thought. He jumped ever so slightly.

"_I'm never going to get used to that."_ She smiled. _"Why can I hear you? I'm not a Fortis"_

"_You and I have an extra special connection. No one else in this world can hear my thoughts, just you. It's because you're my partner."_ He nodded in understanding. He looked at the painting that she had created. She truly had a gift. There was so much detail in the picture, from each crack and break in the stone of the walls, to the different shades of light falling on his face.

"_Kayla, this is incredible."_ She smiled and shrugged.

"_It took a while for me to get round to finishing it because of how angry I was at you. But I'm glad you like it. You can keep it."_ She thought. He turned around and walked over to her. He cupped her face and gave her a long, lingering kiss.

"I'm sorry." He said. She looked up at him.

"I'm sorry for what I said all those months ago. I've never regretted anything so much. I will spend the rest of our lives trying to make it up to you. I promise." He said, truly meaning every word he said. She thought that he couldn't get any more wonderful and then he said that.

They spent the rest of the evening sitting on the sofa and getting reacquainted.

"Do you remember that day, before I said… what I said? We were talking about each other's birthdays? I never found out when yours was." He said, playing with her fingers that he held. She chuckled.

"It's… today." She said. He looked up at her, eyes wide. She watched him in amusement.

"_Shit._" He thought. She raised an eyebrow.

"_Why the use of profanities?"_ She said amusedly. He bit his lip.

"_I forgot you could hear my thoughts."_ She rolled her eyes.

"You should have told me." He said.

"But then you would feel obliged to get me something when you've already gotten me a beautiful Christmas present." She explained, and held up her bracelet. He smirked.

"You know me too well." She shrugged.

"You're a lot like Hermione. She felt the same when I told her that it was my birthday today." She said.

"You told her today as well?" She nodded. He had a thoughtful expression on his face.

"What?" She said, sensing his brain working away.

"How are you so selfless?" He asked. Her eyebrows rose.

"What make you think I'm selfless?" She said incredulously.

"Well it seems to me that you put people's happiness before your own. When was the last time you did something for yourself?" He asked. She thought about his question for a long time. He raised his eyebrow in enjoyment as she thought. He knew he was right.

"See?" He said. "You can't even remember the last time you did something for yourself! Surely that's a sign that you should?" He said, running his thumb up and down her hand soothingly.

"Like what? What could I possibly do for myself?" He shrugged.

"Its up to you. Something as simple as taking a walk alone to clear your head is helpful. Or, you could spend time with your boyfriend." He winked. She laughed.

"I'm sure that I'll be spending time with you, whether you like it or not." She said, as he wrapped his arms around her waist, bringing her closer. She lifted her feet up off the floor and tucked them in beside her. She laid her head down on his chest and he kissed the top of her head. She could hear his heartbeat, slow and steady. It made her feel relaxed and she closed her eyes to focus on him and nothing else.

Several hours later she opened her eyes again, not realizing she had fallen asleep. She looked up slightly, to find Draco asleep as well, his arms still draped around her. She beamed, remembering what had occurred that evening. She looked at the clock opposite them and her eyes widened. It was two o'clock in the morning. She turned around to face Draco.

"Draco. Draco, wake up." She whispered. He stayed asleep. She planted a chaste kiss on his lips and slowly his eyes opened, and he smiled slightly.

"It's two in the morning." She said. His eyes widened, just as hers had done before.

"Really? Oops..." He said. She nodded and began to sit up when she felt a force stopping her. She looked at Draco, who was pouting a little.

"What?" She said.

"Don't leave yet." He said, trying his best to look as cute as possible so she would give in. She knew what he was up to and tried extremely hard to stand her ground.

"Come on Draco, it's extremely late! We can't stay here forever."

"_I wish."_ She heard him think. She smiled kindly.

"We can meet back here tomorrow okay?" She said. He nodded slowly and released his grip on her. She stood up and put her shoes again. A dull pain started up in her feet and she growled.

"What?" He said, putting his jacket on.

"Damn heels." She muttered and took them back off.

"You're just going to walk barefoot back to your common room?" He asked, like it was the most ridiculous thing in the world. She nodded and made her way towards the double doors. Once she stepped outside the Room, the cold air hit her like a slap on the face.

She wrapped her arms around herself and felt a presence behind her. She turned around and looked up at his face. He looked at her shivering and took his cloak off. He wrapped it around her shoulders and planted a kiss on her forehead.

"Are you sure you won't be cold?" She asked. He chuckled and tucked his hand into his trouser pockets.

"This is what I'm talking about. You and your selflessness." He smiled. "I'll be fine. I'm not the one shivering." He remarked. She playfully slapped him on the arm.

"I'll see you tomorrow… or today." She said, before turning to walk back to her common room.

"_Wait._" She stopped and turned to face him. He walked over, put his hands on her face and bent down to kiss her. A soft, loving kiss that said everything he wanted it to. She looked into his wonderful silver eyes and smiled for the millionth time that night.

"_I love you."_ He thought. She would never be able to get used to hearing him say that.

"_I love you too."_ She thought, before walking to her common room with a smile on her face that could never be wiped off.

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**Was it okay? Please let me know. I apologise to you for having to wait so long. ~ writingtoinspire**


	27. Chapter 27

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, they are all the wondrous creations of Mrs. Rowling.**

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When Kayla got back to the common room, she made sure she was quiet. She walked up the stairs to her room carefully, but when she got up there, it was no use. One of her roommates was still awake.

"_Thank goodness."_ She heard Hermione's voice in her head. She smiled ever so slightly. Hermione walked straight over and gave her a huge hug.

"Where have you been?!" She said, sounding angry.

"_She scared the shit out of me."_ Kayla almost burst out laughing. She composed herself and replied to Hermione's thoughts.

"Now now Hermione, no need to use that kind of language." She said jokingly, still fighting to keep a straight face. Hermione's brow furrowed.

"But I didn't…" Her eyes widened as she realized what Kayla had done.

"You… you read m-my mind?" She said, in shock. Kayla wasn't sure if she wanted to tell Hermione, in fear of her imploding from surprise. She nodded slowly.

"W-When? How?" Hermione asked excitedly. Kayla chuckled quietly, cautious of the fact that there were two other girls sleeping in the room. She explained everything that had occurred between her and Draco that evening. Kayla heard a thought of Hermione's that puzzled her.

"_It worked!"_

"What worked?" She asked. Hermione's eyes went scarily big.

"_Fuck."_ Kayla wacked her arm playfully.

"Hermione!" She exclaimed.

"Sorry. I keep forgetting you can hear me…" She said.

"What's going on?" Kayla asked, curious as to why Hermione had suddenly become very cautious.

"_Should I tell her?"_ Kayla raised an eyebrow.

"Tell me what?" Hermione closed her eyes in frustration.

"_Damn it! Get out of my head Kayla!"_ Kayla chuckled at her friend's annoyance.

"I can't help it." She said smiling. Hermione exhaled with aggravation.

"Okay… basically, Blaise and I sent the notes." She said. Kayla nodded.

"Yeah I know that. But why?" Hermione's eyes narrowed.

"How did you figure that out?" Kayla smirked.

"_She looks so similar to Malfoy when she does that._" Kayla's eyebrows rose, but she ignored the statement.

"We recognized your handwriting." She said. Hermione nodded and said nothing.

"Hermione?" Kayla said. Hermione looked up at her. "Why did you do it?" She asked.

"Erm… well, I noticed how upset you were when you and Malfoy didn't talk for such a long time and after he helped you when you fell down the stairs, I knew that he must really like you because no one, especially Malfoy, stays with someone they claim to hate, out of pure kindness. So I talked to Zabini, who confirmed my suspicions, and we decided to help you guys along." Hermione never failed to surprise Kayla with her acts of friendship. She walked over and gave Hermione a big hug.

"Thank you." She said, her voice a little muffled. "If you guys hadn't done something, I don't think Draco and I would have admitted our feelings for each other for a _long_ time." Hermione smiled.

"I'm just glad that you're happy." She said. They stood there in silence for a moment before Hermione excused herself to get ready for bed. Whilst Kayla waited for the bathroom, she heard Draco's voice in her mind.

"_Kayla? Are you awake?"_

"_Yes. Are you okay?"_

"_Yeah, I just wanted to see if this telepathic thing worked long distance. Apparently so."_

"_I was just talking to Hermione, and she said that she had help from Zabini with the notes."_

"_That bastard didn't tell me anything!"_ She chuckled to herself.

"_What is it with you two and swearing?"_

"_Us two? Don't tell me Goody Goody Granger swears?"_

"_Believe it or not, she has a very colorful vocabulary. And Draco, surely you know better than to call my friends names by now?"_ She thought, trying to sound stern.

"_Oh, yeah sorry. Old habits die hard I guess."_

"_That's understandable. But if you feel the need to insult them, try not to do it when I'm around."_

"_Sure, I'm sorry love."_ Kayla couldn't help but grin like a Cheshire cat when he called her that.

"What are you smiling at?" Hermione said as she walked back into the dorm in her pajamas.

"Oh urm, Draco and I are able to hear each other's thoughts, seeing as we're partners." Hermione's eyebrows rose.

"I didn't expect that. What did he say?" Hermione said curiously. Kayla's mouth broke into a grin again. Hermione gave her a knowing look.

"Okay, I get it. Couple stuff." She put her hands up. Kayla smiled. She heard Draco's voice in her mind again.

"_I'm going to sleep now Kayla. I'll see you tomorrow. I love you." _His voice sounded gentle and it comforted her that he was hers... and only hers.

"_I love you too."_ She replied. Her attention turned back to Hermione who had settled into bed with a book.

"Speaking of couples, what about you and Krum? Did anything happen after I left?" She said, wiggling her eyebrows at Hermione suggestively. Hermione chuckled. She waved her hand dismissively.

"Aw come on Hermione, I can tell it was more than that. Don't make me read your mind!" Kayla said. That might just be her new threat.

"Okay okay, at the end of the evening he… he kissed me." She said, smiling sheepishly. Kayla clapped her hands together in delight.

"That's great Hermione! How was it?" Kayla asked. Hermione remained quiet.

"What?" Kayla said, alarmed by the sudden silence.

"Honestly? I-I felt nothing. There was no spark at all." She said, biting her bottom lip. Kayla's eyes rose.

"Really? You guys looked like you were really enjoying yourself." Kayla said.

"It's not that I don't like Victor, because I do. He's sweet, charming and very well mannered. I'm just not _attracted_ to him." Hermione said, looking slightly deflated. She hated to admit it but she was a little jealous of Kayla and Draco. She felt unwanted by every single guy in the world, apart from one, and she wasn't even attracted to him! Kayla had one guy who loved her more than anything in the world. He was her stable rock. He keeps her grounded. No even she could do that. it was an extraordinary relationship. Yet, at the same time, one that she craved to have herself.

Meanwhile, Kayla could read this all in her mind and her eyes were in danger of falling out of her head. Hermione, jealous of her? How insane! She almost burst out laughing at Hermione, because of how ridiculous she sounded.

"Hermione. I don't understand how you could possibly be jealous of me. Did you notice the reaction you got today when you came down from those stairs?" Hermione shook her head slowly. "I saw a beautiful girl who had pretty much the whole male population of the school gaping at her this evening." Kayla said, smiling at her blushing friend.

"That's not true. Harry and Ron definitely wouldn't think of me that why. They're like my brothers." She said shivering at the thought. Kayla cocked up an eyebrow knowingly.

"They weren't were they?" She said, eyed wide. Kayla gave her a knowing smile.

"I know one of them was." She said, almost tauntingly. Hermione's mouth fell open. Kayla let a chuckle escape her lips.

"You're joking." She said. Kayla shook her head.

"Will you tell me who? I'm not a Fortis like _some_ of us." She said jokingly.

"Okay. Think about it. Who has Harry been pining after since the beginning of the year?" Kayla asked.

"That's easy, Cho." Hermione said.

"So that rules out Harry…" Kayla looked at her pointedly. Hermione shook her head, suddenly looking saddened.

"No it can't be. He would never think about me like that." She said. Kayla saw a memory resurfacing in Hermione's mind.

_It was in the Great Hall, during the ball. Ron and Harry sat at a table, a Patil sister on either side of them. They all looked rather miserable. Hermione walked over, beaming._

"_Victor's gone to get some drinks. Would you like to join us?" She asked the two boys. Ron had a look of disdain on his face._

"_No, we won't join you and Victor." Ron spat the seeker's name out like it tasted bad. Hermione's smile dampened._

"_What's got your wand in a knot?" She said._

"_He's a Durmstrang. You're fraternizing with the enemy!" Hermione looked angry._

"_The enemy?! Who was it wanting his autograph? Besides, the whole point of the tournament is international, magical cooperation. To make friends." She said defiantly. Ron scoffed._

"_I think he's got a lot more than friendship on his mind." He said, not looking at her. Harry looked defenseless. Hermione stood up and walked away without a second glance._

Before Kayla could say anything, another memory followed it.

_Hermione and Ron walked side by side, obviously arguing._

"_He's using you Hermione!" Ron said irritably._

"_How dare you!" Hermione retorted. She looked ahead. "Besides, I can take care of myself."_

"_Doubt it. Anyway, he's way too old." He said feebly. Hermione looked outraged._

"_What?! That's what you think?"_

"_Yeah, that's what I think." Ron said, his voice breaking slightly._

"_You know the solution then don't you?" She said, still marching alongside him, her anger clearly showing._

"_Go on then." Ron said, his anger matching hers. She stopped walking and so did he. They glared at each for a moment before Hermione spoke._

"_Next time there's a ball, pluck up the courage and ask me before someone else does, and not as a last resort! Ron looked at her, dumbfounded._

"_Well… t-that besides the point." He backed away from her slowly and his gaze shifted behind her. "Harry." He said sounding almost relieved. Hermione whirled around to face Harry._

"_Where have you been?" She said, her anger misdirected at Harry. He opened his mouth to answer when Hermione cut him off._

"_Never mind, off to bed. Both of you." She said, her motherly side emerging, despite having tears in her eyes. Harry's face looked confused but he didn't pry as he made his way towards the staircase. She quickly wiped away a lone tear that had escaped from her eye._

"_They get scary when they're older." Ron said to Harry, loud enough for Hermione to hear._

"_Ron you spoilt everything!" She shouted as Ron and Harry rushed up the stairs to their dorms. Once they were gone, she sat on a step and took off her heels, whilst letting the tears escape silently._

Kayla could feel the emotion behind that memory and she pulled Hermione in for a hug. Hermione let a few tears fall again, clearly hurt by Ron's words. Kayla hadn't known about the fight with Ron. It was clear from Hermione's memory that Ron was acting out due to his feelings for her. Kayla didn't mention this to Hermione however, in fear of upsetting her further.

Kayla had decided that, since Hermione had helped her relationship with Draco along, she would do the same for her and Ron. Of course, she would need to consult with her boyfriend to assist her.

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**I'm sorry for the delay, but I hope you enjoyed this chapter.**

**I'm in no way a Ronmione shipper. I actually ship Dramione. But for this story to work, Hermione will have to end up with Ron... oh well. Until next time my friends, good bye. ~ writingtoinspire**


	28. Chapter 28

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. They are the creations of Queen Rowling.**

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"You're telling me that we have to help Granger and Weasel get together?" Draco said, his nose scrunched up as if he had just smelt something bad. Kayla chuckled at the blonde boy whom she loved so much. It was Boxing Day evening and the two of them sat on the sofa in the Room of Requirement, talking and wrapped in each other's embrace. Kayla had told Draco about the situation between Ron and Hermione and how they have to help them realize their feelings for each other.

"Yes. Hermione helped us! If it wasn't for her, I probably wouldn't have said anything to you for quite a while, and I'm pretty sure you would be the same. We owe her." Draco scowled.

"I thought she was with Krum?" He said. Kayla shrugged, not wanting to tell Draco about how Hermione feels towards the Bulgarian seeker.

"Well she isn't anymore." Draco nodded.

"Okay then. What do you suggest we do?" He said. Kayla looked at him and smiled.

"You'll help?" She beamed. He smiled slightly.

"I guess so. I would do it for Zabini. She's your friend and you're right. We do kind of owe her."

"Thank you." She said. She planted a kiss on his cheek.

"I think I deserve more than that y'know." He smiled cheekily and winked. She rolled her eyes and he leaned in to kiss her. She felt butterflies in her stomach; he never failed to make her feel that way. They sat in a comfortable silence when Kayla remembered something.

"Draco. Would you like to come to an opening of this art gallery in York in a few weeks?" She said cautiously. He looked at her curiously.

"What is it for?" He asked.

"Well, my father has sold a painting to the gallery and they wanted me to see it." She bit her lip, wondering if this was too soon for him to meet her parents. He thought for a moment. He watched her chew her lip with nerves.

"Do you want me to come?" He asked. She looked at him. His silver eyes watched her with compassion.

"It's okay if you don't want to because I could ask Hermione but I thought maybe you could meet my parents, although it might be a bit soon but like I said you don't have to if you don't want to." She said, babbling away with anxiousness, not meeting his eyes. Draco bit back a laugh.

"_She's so cute when she's nervous."_ He thought. Kayla looked at him and lifted an eyebrow.

"_What? It's true!"_ He thought, and she blushed.

"I would love to come." He said. Her eyes lit up.

"Really?" She asked. He nodded. She wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Thank you. Will you be okay with all the muggles though?" She said, looking at him with concern. He hesitated and looked at the floor. Her parents were muggles. How was he supposed to talk to them when he knew hardly anything about the muggle world? She could hear the doubt in his mind. She lifted his chin so that he was looking at her.

"Don't think you have to come. It's okay if you aren't comfortable with it. You can meet my parents another time." She said gently. He looked at her lips, leaned in and kissed her softly.

"I want to meet them. As for the muggles, well I'll just have to stick by you the whole time." He said. She smiled. She couldn't help but think she was in a dream. How is he so perfect?

"Are you sure?" She said, still concerned. He chuckled and nodded. She beamed.

They spent the rest of the evening in the company of each other. After a while, they lied down on the sofa, still wrapped in each other's arms. She sighed with content, feeling the happiest she had ever felt. She could feel her eyelids getting heavy and she looked up to see if Draco felt the same way. She smiled when she saw that he had already fallen asleep, judging by the slight rise and fall of his chest. He looked so peaceful, more so than when he was awake, that was for sure. He even looked younger, perhaps by a year or two. A strand of his blonde hair fell into his eyes. She reached up and brushed it away. She rested her head on his chest and was lulled to sleep by the sound of his steady heartbeat.

She was woken up by the sound of Draco's voice.

"Kayla, we have to get going." She shook her head, her eyes still closed. She tightened her grip around his waist. She felt his chest vibrate as he chuckled at he childishness.

"Come on love. Granger will get worried." He said, the amusement still clear in his voice.

"She'll live." She said, burying her head in his chest. She inhaled his cologne. It was his smell, the one that she recognized. It was familiar and comforting. He kissed her on the forehead and began to sit up. She sat up and opened her eyes, giving him the best puppy dog eyes she could muster.

"Aw don't do that to me." He groaned and stood up. She smiled innocently. He walked over to the coat rack and put his cloak on. He held out her cloak for her.

"Do what?" She said, walking after him and taking the cloak. He chuckled and turned to face her. Next thing she knew, his lips were on her's and she felt the butterflies erupt again. She deepened the kiss and she swore she heard him growl ever so slightly. The passion grew stronger and more heated. He pulled away, feeling slightly breathless, and shook his head with amusement.

"I swear you will be the death of me Kayla Green." He entwined his fingers with her's and they walked out of the room together. Once they exited the room, the door began to disappear. The two of the watched until it disappeared completely. She looked back at him to find him watching her, love written all over his face.

"What?" She said, eyeing him. He walked close to her and took her hands in his. He kissed her forehead. She closed her eyes and sighed.

"I'll see you tomorrow okay?" He said, looking down at her. She nodded and began walk away, but Draco's grip on her hands stopped her. She looked back at his questioningly.

"You're just going to leave like that?" He said, pouting. She knew what he was asking for but she kept a straight face.

"Yeah, what more is there to say?" She said. Draco shrugged.

"Oh I don't know…" He pulled her closer and kissed her softly. She let go of his hands and wrapped her arms around his neck. She looked up at him and smiled.

"I see. I didn't realize that this was mandatory." She said, playing with his soft blonde hair.

"Well now you know." He said cheekily. She beamed at him and started to walk down the hallway.

"_I love you Draco."_ She thought.

"_I love you too Kayla."_ She looked back at him and he smiled at her, but it was a melancholy smile. Her eyebrows furrowed.

"_What's wrong?"_

"_Well… you know what? Don't worry. I'm fine." _She rolled her eyes.

"_Clearly not. Come on, what's the problem?"_

"_Honestly, don't worry."_

"_Draco, don't make me invade your memories." _He widened his eyes.

"_You can do that?"_

"_Yes. Not that I've tried but I've been told that I can."_

"_You never fail to surprise me." _He said, smiling.

"_Flattery won't make me forget that you have something to tell me."_

"_Damn."_ He thought.

"_Okay, honestly? Every time we meet up, it reminds me that I can't tell everyone I love about you. My parents, my friends. They have no idea how much you mean to me. I hate that we have to keep this a secret." _He thought, looking deflated. She walked back towards him and put her hand on his face.

"Draco. I understand that you wish for everyone to know about this. But if we were to tell people, particularly your parents, don't you think they would be against it? I'm a muggle-born, you're a pureblood. They just wouldn't agree to it." She said. He nodded sadly and stayed silent. She could feel her heart drop at his melancholy face.

"You know what." She said. He looked at her, intrigued. "We'll tell everyone about our relationship." His eyebrows rose.

"Are you sure?" He said, sounding concerned. She nodded.

"We just have to be prepared for the reaction. Your parents in particular." He shrugged.

"I think my parents would be alright once they got used to it. It's breaking to them that I'm worried about." He confessed.

"Well, we can do it together." She said, slipping her hand into his. He beamed at her.

"Let me walk you to your common room." He said.

"Are you sure? It's almost on the other side of the castle." She said. He nodded.

"Any excuse to spend more time with you." He smiled and kissed her forehead. They walked hand in hand, all the way to the Gryffindor common room. When they got there, they found the Fat Lady fast asleep.

"Hello?" She said. The Fat Lady opened her eyes sleepily and looked at the two students. She raised an eyebrow.

"Urm… Hungarian Horntail." Kayla said, as she felt the blush creeping into her cheeks. Just as the portrait opened, Kayla saw something move from the corner of her eye. She whipped her head around to see Mrs. Norris staring at them. Her eyes widened.

"Draco." She whispered. He looked where she was looking and his heart began to beat faster.

"Filch can't be far behind!" She whispered frantically. He looked around for somewhere to run to. Before he knew it, he felt his arm tug as Kayla pulled him into the common room. The portrait swung shut and Kayla's heartbeat began to slow down again. She had a look to see if anyone was in the room before walking in.

"That was close." She whispered. She turned to see that Draco wasn't following her. Her eyebrows furrowed as she saw his conflicted face.

"Oh come on Draco, it's just my common room." She said quietly. He looked around dubiously.

"Would you be comfortable with walking into the Slytherin common room?" He asked. Kayla watched him for a moment before shaking her head.

"Then you can see where I'm coming from." He said. She shrugged.

"Well it's either in here or back out there with Filch still prowling around." She said teasingly, before beginning to make her way to an armchair. She froze when she saw someone move in the chair. She could feel her heartbeat increasing rapidly again. Her body went completely ridged with shock when she recognized the shaggy red hair.

"What the fuck is he doing here?"

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**I apologise profusely for the delay in posting but stress of GCSES has kept me very busy. I hope you can forgive me, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter.**

**With love. ~ writingtoinspire**


	29. Chapter 29

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters!**

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Ron watched her with anger pulsating through his entire body. She stared at him in shock, unable to speak.

"Well?" He said. "Aren't you going to explain?" He said, his face getting even redder.

"_I think he's going to blow up."_ She heard Draco think.

"_Draco. Now is not the time."_ She stepped towards Ron cautiously.

"_I'm going to seriously hurt someone if she doesn't start talking."_ Kayla heard Ron think.

"Okay Ron. Calm down." She started carefully. "Take a seat."

"No. I want to know what's going on here. Why the hell are you out so late with that Slytherin bastard?" He yelled.

"_That git."_ Draco thought. He took a step forward and Kayla turned and gave him a warning look.

"_Draco, please. Just give me a minute to calm him down."_ She pleaded. He nodded ever so slightly, despite his tolerance getting smaller. She turned back to Ron, who had a confused look on his face.

"What the fuck is going on?" He shouted. Kayla shushed him.

"Ron please, don't shout. I'll explain. But you need to promise to keep your voice down."

"_Hell no."_ He thought. He remained silent.

"Please Ron. Just hear me out." She said with desperation.

"Fine." He hissed. Kayla took a deep breath and began to tell him everything that had been happening between the two of them. She skipped the details about her 'special abilities'. She didn't want to bombard Ron with too much information at once. Draco stayed quiet throughout the entire explanation. His thoughts however, were far from silent. Kayla had to give him warning looks several times because of the things he was thinking. These looks received more inquiring thoughts from Ron, all of which Kayla could hear as well.

By the end of the explanation, she could feel her head beginning to ache from the amount of thoughts that she was hearing from the two boys.

"What I don't understand is why you think this is all genuine." Ron snapped. "For all you know, this could be a bet, or a prank. Let's see who can shag a Gryffindor first." Kayla felt hurt by his statement. She almost felt the tears developing in her eyes. Draco, who had been sitting on the floor, stood up and was about to retaliate when Kayla stopped him.

"Do you think I'm that naïve Ron? That I would trust someone that quickly?" She said, pain dripping from every word she said. She stared at him defiantly. Draco walked forward. Ron watched the two of them, still suspicious of Draco.

"_My time to talk now."_ He thought. Kayla looked at him with wide eyes.

"_Don't worry love, I won't use violence."_ She watched him wearily. Draco walked over to where Ron was standing and looking his straight in the eye.

"Listen here Weasley. I've stayed quiet this whole time, stopping myself from saying anything scathing because you're a friend of her's. But when you question my feelings for her, that's when you cross the line." He could feel the anger surging through his veins.

"I love her. I would do anything for her. When I said what I said about Granger, I wasn't thinking. I was a complete git. But I promise you that I have never regretted something so much. You don't understand how long it took for us to sort everything out." He glanced back at Kayla, who seemed to be in a trance. He looked back at Ron and leaned in to prevent Kayla from hearing.

"Between you and I, she deserves so much better. And if she were to change her mind, I would not object. As long as she is happy." He confessed. Ron raised his eyebrows in shock.

"Well… You… I mean… erm." Draco looked at him cautiously.

"_I think I broke him. Should we just leave?"_ He thought to Kayla. She smiled.

"_Give him a minute. It's a lot to take in. To think I haven't told him about the mind reading thing. He'd probably faint."_ Draco bit his lip to hold back the laugh.

"What is so funny?" Ron said, his eyes dangerously narrow. Kayla smiled at him.

"Nothing Ron. But please tell me that you're okay with this?" She asked.

"_How can I be okay with her dating my enemy?"_ Ron thought. Kayla could feel the pain shoot through her again. She couldn't believe how much his approval meant to her. She closed her eyes to calm herself for a moment.

"I guess." He said slowly. Her eyes flew open.

"What?" She said.

"I guess I'm okay with it." He said. He turned to Draco. "But, if you hurt her in any way, I won't hold back." He threatened.

"Consider me warned." Draco said coolly.

"Thank you for understanding Ron. This means a lot to me. And I would prefer if you didn't say anything to anyone yet. We want to let them know ourselves." She said, relieved. Ron grumbled something that she couldn't comprehend.

"Well, as heartfelt as this all is, I think Filch is gone now, so I'll see you later?" He said to Kayla. She nodded. Draco leaned in to give her a goodnight kiss, when Ron presence stopped him.

"Have you ever heard of privacy Weasley?" He hissed. Ron narrowed his eyes.

"Give us a few minutes." Kayla said, stopping herself from laughing at the two boy's antics. Ron put his hands up in surrender.

"See you later." He said, as he made his way up to his dorm, still muttering to himself. Draco smiled at Kayla. She, however, did not return it. Instead, she crossed her arms and looked at him, clearly miffed about something.

"What?" He said.

"What did you mean when you said I deserved better?" She said, sounding angry. He chewed his lip. He had hoped she wasn't listening to that part of his 'speech'. She tapped her foot with impatience.

"Well?" She said.

"It's just what I think." He said, shrugging. She raised her eyebrows.

"You think you don't deserve me?" She asked incredulously. He hesitated.

"I erm… I just think that if you had a choice, you should choose someone who isn't part of this fucked up pureblood society." He grumbled. "Someone who doesn't put your life in danger just by being with you." Kayla raised her eyebrows.

"Are you saying my life is in danger?" She asked.

"Perhaps. I mean my parents would never do anything to hurt you, because they will know how much you mean to me. I can't say the same for the rest of the wizarding world." He said. He looked down and closed his eyes. He thought about what would happen if Kayla got hurt because of him. He wouldn't be able to forgive himself. Kayla saw this thought of his and put her hands on his face so that he was looking at her. He opened his silver eyes and looked into her bright blue orbs. She could see his sadness reflected in them. She could even feel her heart fill unhappiness, as his did.

"Draco. If I were to get into trouble, it would not be because of you. It would be because there are people out there who don't like that I have 'dirty blood'. That is not your fault, it's theirs. So please don't think that you aren't good enough for me, because you are. I will understand if you find someone who is better because I know it's what you deserve. You need a girl who is gorgeous, acceptable to your parents, intelligent and perfect in every way possible." She let out a long breath and let go of his face. She gave him a small smile at his shocked face and looked away. She wished she hadn't brought up the subject now. She had just spilled everything she feared would happen. She gave a small wave and stepped towards the stairs to the dorms where she wished to hide in shame.

"Wait a minute." He said. She cringed internally and turned back round. She looked at him cautiously.

"You don't think you're beautiful, intelligent and perfect in every way?" He asked as he walked towards her. She stayed quiet. She could feel his gaze burning holes in her head.

"Kayla, don't you dare think that you aren't all those things. You are. You're so perfect I actually begin to question your existence. Your eyes are so mesmerizing, your petite figure drives me crazy, the way you're small hand fits into mine, how you bite your lip when you're nervous, the way you fall asleep on me, how endearingly short you are, your smile every time you see me always makes me feel secure. Most of all, the fact that I love you more than I've ever loved anyone or anything, and that you love me too, is more than enough for me. It saddens me that you don't realize how amazing you are. You compare yourself to other girls when they don't even come close. When I saw you at the Yule Ball, I don't think I had ever seen something so unbelievably flawless, and now you're mine, and only mine." By this point Kayla's tears were falling freely. Draco lifted his thumb to wipe away her tears.

"There is no one out there for me, apart from you. Never forget that." He said gently. He kissed her forehead and looked down at her. There were still tears in her eyes. No one had ever called her beautiful before. No one had ever been so brutally honest about her before. She was so overwhelmed by his answer that she couldn't help but cry. She buried her head in his neck, while he wrapped his arms around her. They stood there in each other's embrace for what seemed like forever. She looked at him and smiled slowly.

"I used to be the girl that everyone ignored, that kept to herself. If I had stayed that way, then I wouldn't have met the most important person in my life. I also wouldn't have gotten to know some of the people that I now call my best friends. I now realize that it was all because of you. You helped me to open up, and I'm so much happier because it. I couldn't thank you enough."

"I know I would still be burdened with this ridiculous prejudice if I hadn't started talking to you. We were such opposites before, and now we've changed for the better." He said wisely. She smiled.

"I think I know who's the intelligent one out of us two." She smirked. He chuckled.

"Yes but who will be the one to will hex the living daylights out of the wise arse? I think I have a pretty good idea." He said jokingly. Kayla put on a mock serious face.

"And you better not forget it." She said. She laughed quietly. Draco marveled in this wonderful girl that was in his arms. She had a traumatic childhood, with the loss of her brother as well as being bullied because she was alone, and yet she never fails to smile every day. Even when she is having a bad day, she still has a grin on her face. He completely admired her for that. She stood on the tips of her toes to kiss him. She wrapped her arms around his neck as his soft lips caressed hers. After a couple of minutes, he sighed and broke the kiss.

"I have to go love. Zabini will probably get the wrong idea otherwise." He looked at her knowingly. Her eyes widened and she jumped out of his arms, blushing furiously. He laughed at her embarrassment.

"I'll see you tomorrow." He said, leaning over to give her a kiss on the cheek before walking out of the common room. He checked there was no one lurking around before he stepped out. He took a minute to absorb everything that had just been said. He smiled widely.

"She must really love you." He heard a woman's voice say behind him. He whirled around and saw the Fat Lady smiling down at him. He smirked and nodded.

"Not as much as I love her."

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**I really hope you liked this chapter. I wasn't sure how to go about it but let me know what you think! ~ writingtoinspire**


	30. Chapter 30

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters.**

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The rest of the holidays went by in a blur and before they knew it, it was New Year's Eve. In the morning, Hermione, Ron, Harry and Kayla made their way to the Great Hall for breakfast.

"There's going to be a party in the common room tonight for New Year's Eve." Ron said. "Hopefully Fred and George can steal some food and butter beer from the kitchens." Kayla loved her friends, but she really wanted to spend New Year's Eve with Draco. She felt her shoulders sag slightly. Hermione saw her looking dejected.

"_She obviously wants to be with Malfoy."_ She thought. Kayla heard this and lifted her head. She raised an eyebrow at her curly-haired friend who smiled apologetically.

"_You know it's true."_ She thought again. Kayla nodded ever so slightly, to confirm Hermione's claim. Whilst the boys carried on walking and talked about this evening, Kayla and Hermione hung back.

"Why don't you invite him?" Hermione said. She was too casual for Kayla's liking. Her eyebrows shot up.

"And risk him being Avada'd?" She remembered the lesson that they had with Moody a couple of weeks ago and shivered. "No it's okay, I'll see him the next day anyway." She smiled, trying hard to hide her sadness. Hermione raised her eyebrow. She could see right through it.

"If you don't ask him I will. You obviously want to be with him tonight, but you also want to spend it with your friends. So why not just combine the two?" She asked. Kayla looked at her apprehensively.

"Imagine the reaction Hermione! You think the Gryffindors are going to take it in their stride? 'Oh look at that, just a random Slytherin in our common room. No problem' Toss in the fact that I'm dating him and they'll rip him to shreds! I can't let that happen." She exclaimed.

"No they won't. Not with Ron and I there to support you." She said defiantly. Kayla smiled slightly. It would be nice to be with Draco on New Year's Eve.

"Fine, I'll talk to him." Kayla said hesitantly. They walked into the busy Great Hall arm in arm. After breakfast, as Kayla and her friends were making their way back to the common room, she heard someone call her. She turned around to see Draco standing at the other end of the hallway.

"Oi Green! I need to talk to you." He called. She looked back at her friends. Harry looked surprised and defensive whilst Ron and Hermione just looked completely baffled. She shrugged her shoulders and walked over to the blonde Slytherin.

"Hey. I just wanted to talk to you about the gallery thing with your parents?" He asked in a low voice. She nodded slightly and turned to the group of Gryffindors advancing on the couple.

"What's going on?" Hermione said.

"Oh urm…" She looked at Draco.

"_You could help me out a bit here."_ She thought.

"_Oh right sorry"_

"I needed to borrow Green's notes from the last Potions lesson because I lost mine." He said coolly. Harry's eyes narrowed.

"You go ahead, I'll be there in a few minutes." She said. Hermione gave the two a strange look before nodding slightly. The three of them turned and walked back up the hallway, towards the common room. Many different questions entered their minds, all of which Kayla could hear. She waited until they had turned a corner before turning back to Draco.

"You were saying?" She asked, a smile playing on her lips. He smiled, albeit a little warily.

"I'm just a bit… apprehensive. It's not that I don't want to go and meet your parents because I do. It's just I… I don't k-know if…" He was struggling to vocalize his feelings. Kayla watched him with amusement as he figured what he was going to say. She could see his whole thought process, literally. He opened his mouth once he had figured it out, by which time Kayla understood what he was trying to say, and cut him off.

"You don't know if they'll like you." She stated. He looked at her with wide eyes.

"How…" She looked at him pointedly. He understood immediately. "Right, mind-reader." He said.

"I know they will." She said confidently. His eyebrows rose in amazement.

"But –"

"I'm, as the muggle saying goes, a 'chip off the old block'. Basically, I am just like my parents. So if I love you, then so will they. Perhaps not in the exact way that I do because that would be just plain creepy." Draco chuckled. "But I know they will treat you like one of the family. Even if they don't like you, they will learn to, because they will know how much you mean to me." She thought for a moment about his fears about the meeting. Her parents weren't prejudiced, they don't know a great deal about Draco. Why would they hate him? That's when it clicked.

"Don't think that they will despise you from the word 'go'. Have a little faith in yourself." She said soothingly. He winced.

"How can you be so sure Kayla? I mean, you and I weren't exactly 'best buddies' before we actually started talking to each other. Your parents may feel the same way." He said, looking downhearted.

"Draco, you can't keep thinking you're a bad person. Perhaps a little misguided but who isn't? Also, you were young and you've changed so much in the past few months. My parents won't know about who you used to be, nor will they care because that is not who you are now." Draco kept silent, taking in everything Kayla had just said. What in the world did he do to deserve her? She put her hand under his chin and lifted it so that his eyes were looking into hers.

"You will be fine." She said simply. He gave her a small smile and a kiss on the forehead. She wrapped her arms around his waist and held him tightly. His arms snaked around her neck and he closed his eyes. After a few minutes, Kayla tried to move but Draco's arms were still locked in position.

"I'm not done yet." She chuckled and let her arms drop. He still held on to her tightly.

"Come on, let me go. The guys will be wondering where I am." Draco lifted his head to look at her.

"Okay so Harry will be wondering where I am." She corrected. He nodded and let go of her neck.

"I'll see you tonight." He said, placing a soft kiss on her lips.

"Actually, I was wondering if you wanted to come to a party in my common room instead?" She asked whilst shuffling her feet. His eyebrows rose at lightening speed. When he didn't say anything, Kayla assumed it was a request to elaborate.

"Well I really wanted to spend New Year's Eve with you, but also with my friends. So Hermione suggested that you come to the party." She explained.

"Not really sure if I fancy being killed tonight. Maybe tomorrow?" He said sarcastically. She lightly shoved him on the arm, a smile playing on her light pink lips.

"I won't let any of them hurt you. Plus Hermione and Ron will back me up." She said. "To be honest, the one person I'm worried about is Harry. The rest of the house can sod off." She confessed. Draco smiled and silently agreed. Boy Wonder would probably prefer to face a Basilisk again rather than see his friend dating a Slytherin.

"Potter would probably skin me alive." Draco commented.

"Probably. But not if I can help it." She said smiling. He smiled back at her glowing face.

"Okay I'll be there." He said hesitantly. Kayla raised an eyebrow.

"Are you sure? It's okay if you don't want to. I can go to the party and then meet you just before midnight?" She said.

"No its fine, I'll come" He told her. "What time should I be there?" She looked at him suspiciously for a moment.

"Wait outside the common room at 9 and I'll come out to meet you." He nodded.

"See you tonight." He said kissing her on the cheek before turning in the direction he came from. His stomach was churning. He was going to a New Year's party in the Gryffindor common room. He should just prepare his will now.

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**I'm so sorry about not updating for so long but this is going to be a common occurrence for a little while because my exams are starting in two months. Thank you for reading, I really hoped you enjoyed the chapter. Please review! ~ writingtoinspire**


	31. Chapter 31

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this fan fiction.**

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She sighed as she looked at herself in the mirror. Ginny had insisted she wear a skirt and honestly? She hated it. All she wanted was to wear a nice pair of jeans with a blouse but no. The Fashion Police won't allow it. Hermione stood behind Kayla, grimacing at the burgundy dress Ginny made her wear.

"Why can't I wear trousers Ginny?" Hermione called to her redheaded friend who was changing in the bathroom. Ginny walked out wearing a flowing cream dress.

"Because my dear Hermione, it's not dressy enough for a party, let alone a New Year's one." She said. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Seriously Ginny, it's just the Gryffindors. They've seen worse." Ginny rolled her eyes and proceeded to curl her hair using her wand. Whilst the two girls were talking, Kayla still stared at herself. She wrinkled her nose. Why a skirt? She didn't understand Ginny's reasoning. She made her way to the bathroom, grabbing her smart jeans along the way.

"Excuse me Miss Green, where are you going?" Ginny said sternly. Kayla poked her head out from behind the bathroom door.

"Excuse me Miss Weasley, I don't like skirts. I refuse to wear one." She said, before quickly shutting the door and locking it so that Ginny couldn't get in. She slipped into her jeans and smiled.

"_Much better"_ She thought.

"_What's much better?"_ She heard Draco think. She smiled again.

"_Oh nothing."_

"_Really? Because I could hear all your thoughts about some skirt you didn't want to wear. I didn't know you had such a colorful vocabulary." _She heard him tease. She rolled her eyes as she put on her red blouse.

"_Watch it Draco, or you're going to hear more of my 'colorful vocabulary'."_ She joked. She looked at her muggle wristwatch to see that it was quarter to nine. She walked out of the bathroom to see Ginny pointing her wand at Hermione.

"Hermione Jean Granger, if you even _think_ about changing out of that dress, you will be on the opposite end of a very nasty Bat-Bogey hex. Would you like that?" Ginny said threateningly. Kayla bit her lip to hold back a laugh as she watched the stare down between her two friends. After a few minutes, Hermione put her hands up.

"Fine! I give up!" She said grumpily as Ginny put her wand down and beamed. Kayla's laugh escaped and the two turned to face her. Ginny raised her eyebrows and nodded.

"Actually, I prefer you in jeans Kayla. They suit you better than my skirt." She said before walking to the mirror to apply her make-up. Hermione's mouth fell open.

"But why does she get to wear jeans?" She whined. Kayla smiled sweetly as she brushed her hair. Ginny rolled her eyes.

"Hermione you look gorgeous! The dress looks good, just go with it." She said casually before turning back to the mirror. Hermione pouted. Kayla walked over to her and hung her arms on Hermione's shoulders. Hermione still stood with her arms crossed, pouting like a five year-old.

"Looooooove you." Kayla said teasingly. Hermione turned and stuck her tongue out. Kayla laughed and proceeded to the mirror where Ginny was standing. She looked at herself, trying to decide what to do with her hair. Ginny could see she was unsure of what to do and decided to take it into her own hands.

"_I reckon half up, half down will do nicely."_ Kayla heard her think. Before she knew it, Ginny had muttered a spell that caused half of her hair to twist and be clasped in place with a beautiful gold pin.

"_The wonders of magic" _She thought. She looked at the younger girl and smiled.

"Thanks Ginny." She said. Once her make-up was done, she looked at her watch. It was five to nine and time to meet Draco. She walked towards the door.

"I'm gonna go downstairs, I'll see you guys in a minute?" She said, to which she got a nod from Ginny and a knowing look from Hermione. She walked to the common room, where people had started to gather. She slipped out of the portrait and into the hallway where she saw Draco waiting. He wore a deep red shirt and smart black trousers.

"Gryffindor colors, very nice." She said. He smiled with amusement.

"We match." He said simply. Kayla looked down at her top and saw it was the exact same shade of red as his shirt. She chuckled.

"To think we didn't even plan it." She said smiling at him. He walked over and gave her a tender kiss on the lips.

"You look beautiful by the way." He murmured. She looked up at him and thanked him.

"Are you ready for this?" She said, feeling nervous. He took her hand and entwined their fingers.

"I'm ready if you are." He looked at her gave her a small smile before they walked together to the common room, or in Draco's mind, his death. Kayla walked in first, followed by a tentative Draco. The minute he walked in, all eyes were on him. Each pair of eyes were either angry, questioning or hateful and some a combination of all three. The Weasley twins were the first to speak.

"What is that Slytherin bastard doing here Kayla?" Fred said, his eyes never leaving Draco's. Her relationship with the Weasley twins wasn't a close one, but they were able to make her laugh every so often. They weren't quite familiar enough with her yet that they would understand Draco being her boyfriend. Kayla could hear all the thoughts of the other housemates, judging her and accusing her. She felt like shouting at them all to stop thinking.

"Well Fred. I'm just going to come out with it. Draco and I are together." She said, trying desperately to sound confident. The whole house looked outraged.

"WHAT?" She heard a familiar voice shout. Harry walked forward, looking livid.

"Kayla how could you do this to me?" He said, looking more and more like a tomato. Draco stepped forward and was about to put Potter in his place when Kayla stopped him. He looked at her in disbelief.

"_I'll handle it Draco__. He might hex you if you say anything yet."_ She thought. He nodded, still worried that his raven-haired enemy would lash out and hurt her. Just as she was about to speak, she was stopped by the sound of someone else.

"Harry, this isn't about you." She heard Hermione say. She walked over to Kayla and Draco, who looked taken aback.

"_Granger to the rescue."_ Draco thought. Kayla ignored the remark; she was busy focusing on Harry's reaction.

"You knew? Hermione, you can't seriously be _defending_ him right now." Said Harry scathingly. She rolled her eyes.

"Yes I knew. I'm not defending him Harry, I'm defending _her._ She's our friend; you need to look past your ridiculous rivalry with Malfoy to see that he really cares about Kayla, and would do anything for her. Tonight is a clear example of that." Harry stared at her, wide-eyed and red-faced.

"_Looks like Weasley's not the only one that looks like he's about to pop a vein when he's angry."_ She heard Draco think. Kayla turned and gave him a look that said 'think anymore and you will leave this common room in a fish bowl'.

"_Sorry! Sarcasm is all I have right now."_

"_Well keep it to yourself."_ He nodded, looking apologetic. Harry looked at Ron, who was standing right next to him.

"Ron? How are you so calm?" He said through his teeth. Ron walked towards the three and gave Draco a small nod of acknowledgement. His eyebrows rose with surprise at the redhead's civil gesture. Ron turned around to face Harry.

"I knew too." Harry's eyes widened even further.

"_I think he's going to explode, maybe we should move back."_ Draco thought.

"_Draco."_ The tone of her thought said it all. He _really_ needed to shut the fuck up.

"You knew? AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME?" Harry yelled. Usually Ron was the one to blow up out of sheer anger, not Harry. Kayla assumed he was always so composed.

"Harry, calm down." Ron said cautiously. Harry's mouth dropped open.

"CALM DOWN? HOW CAN I STAY CALM WHEN THERE'S A SLYTHERIN IN THE COMMON ROOM WHO'S APPARENTLY DATING MY BEST FRIEND?" Kayla's eyes widened. She had never considered herself one of Harry's _best_ friends. She thought those two positions were filled.

"_Best friend?"_ She heard Draco think.

"_Apparently."_ She heard him huff. She almost smiled.

"_A little jealous are we Draco?"_ She teased. He turned his head towards her and gave her a death stare.

"_What? I'm not allowed to make jokes."_ She thought looking innocent. Throughout the exchange, the whole room was staring at them as if they were mad.

"_Looks like we have an audience."_ Draco said, turning serious again. Kayla was suddenly aware of all the people around her. She turned to face Harry again who looked at her like she had just grown an extra arm. She decided it was her turn to speak.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON KAYLA?" He shouted, clearly hating not knowing anything.

"Harry, the first thing you said when you heard that I was dating Draco was 'how could you do this to me?' I never thought of you as selfish." Harry's face went from angry to guilty at the drop of a hat. "How could I do this to _you_? This has nothing to do with you Harry. Who I date is my choice and you should respect that."

"But how do you know he isn't using you to get to me?" Harry said. The whispering from the other Gryffindors had ceased immediately. Kayla smiled sadly.

"That's what Ron thought too." She said quietly. "Believe it or not Harry, but I'm a better judge of character than you assume." She felt the same pain she felt when Ron refused to believe her.

"You know what? This was a mistake." She turned to Draco. "I shouldn't have asked you to come today. I'm sorry." She said, looking at him sadly.

"Don't be sorry love. It's not your fault." He said soothingly despite feeling so angry with the Pothead for upsetting her so much. He sent the green-eyed twat a dirty look, which received an equally dirty one back. Kayla could feel the tears building up, so she took Draco's hand and went up to her dorm to avoid them spilling in front of the whole house.

Once they were upstairs, she sat on her bed and let the tears run down her face silently. She didn't say anything, nor did she think anything. Draco's heart broke. He couldn't stand to see her so upset. He sat on the bed next to her and she leaned into him. She let herself cry until she couldn't anymore. He just wrapped his arms around her and kept completely quiet.

Hermione tried to come up and talk to her, but Draco simply shook his head. He wanted to be alone with Kayla. No one else had disturbed the two since.

Kayla eventually fell asleep with her head on his shoulder an hour later. He could feel his eyelids getting heavy and looked at the time. It was half past eleven. He decided to tuck her into bed.

He slowly picked her up bridal style and laid her on the bed properly. He waved his wand and her clothes changed to pajamas. Once he had tucked her into the duvet, he made his way towards the door. He stopped moving when he heard her say his name.

"Could you stay with me?" She said quietly. He looked at her hesitantly before taking off his shirt and getting into the bed next to her. He never went to bed with a top on and he wasn't going to start now. He wrapped an arm around her waist brought her closer to him. She looked up at him with sad, tired eyes. Suddenly, a chiming came from the clock on the wall, meaning it was midnight.

"Happy New Year Draco." She said softly, before giving him a gentle kiss on the lips. She settled down and closed her eyes. He watched as her face began to relax with sleep.

"Happy New Year love."

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**I hope you enjoyed the chapter guys. Please let me know what you thought by reviewing. Thanks! ~ writingtoinspire**


	32. Chapter 32

**Disclaimer: The characters in this story are not my own.**

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_She was in a pristine white room with a bed and table. She didn't know how she had gotten there and why. She looked around for a door and spotted someone on the bed. It was Liam. He looked completely peaceful. Suddenly, bruises and cuts were appearing on his face and body. He remained sleeping and Kayla started to panic. Why wasn't he waking up?_

"_Liam? Liam wake up! Please say something! Can you hear me?" She said, shaking his still body in an attempt to stir him to consciousness. He remained still and sleeping. She heard a sobbing behind her and she turned to see her mother and father sitting on two white chairs. Her mother had her head in her hands and was crying uncontrollably whilst her father's tears were silent. He sat still with his arm around his wife, comforting her whilst grieving himself. Kayla felt like crying but no tears fell. She looked back to see Liam's brown eyes open and looking at her. All the scratches and bruises were gone and he looked like he was glowing. Her heart leapt in happiness and she turned to her parents to tell them he was conscious._

"_Guys, it's okay! He's awake." She said. They were still as they were before, as if they couldn't hear her. Her eyebrows furrowed and she called to them again. Neither parent reacted to her voice. She turned back to see that Liam had stood up. He looked much older than she remembered. She assumed it was the age he would have been if he were still alive. His expression was solemn._

"_You've forgotten about me." He said simply._

"_I haven't! I think about you all the time. I really miss you." She explained. He shook his head, as if he refused to hear her excuses._

"_It's because of that Draco kid. He's taking over your life. When was the last time you talked to Mum and Dad?" He said. Kayla paused and thought for a moment before she spoke._

"_I admit I haven't spoken to them as much this year but I haven't had the chance." She said._

"_Yes, because of your secret boyfriend." He spat. "__What if something was wrong Kayla? What if something had happened and they had no way of contacting you?" She didn't know what to say. She was completely speechless. She hadn't thought about that._

"_Why? Has something happened?" She asked frantically._

"_How would I know? I'm dead." He said blankly. She felt a stab of guilt in her stomach and looked back at her parents, to see that her father had gone. Her mother was still in the same position, crying as she was before._

"_Liam where's Dad?" She said warily and turned to her brother, only to find that he had also disappeared. She called his name, no reply. She walked slowly over to her mother, who still had not acknowledged her presence._

"_Mum? Can you hear me?" Nothing. Kayla sat down next to her and closed her eyes. Tears started to fall from her sapphire eyes as she grieved, but for what she had no clue. She could feel someone shaking her and calling her name, but she kept her eyes shut. She ignored the calling and tried to place the voice. She had heard it before. It was a male, and he sounded worried._

She opened her eyes to find herself in her bed, with a panicked Draco next to her. She was suddenly aware of the fact that she was crying in her sleep.

"Are you okay?" He said with concern etched all over his face. She nodded slowly and sat up on her elbows. He looked at her incredulously.

"If you were okay you wouldn't be having nightmares that cause you to cry."

"Everyone has nightmares Draco." She bit. He raised his eyebrows at her tone. He put his hands up in surrender.

"It might make you feel better if you talked about it." He said gently.

"Well I don't." She said in the same tone before getting out of bed and going to the bathroom. She shut the door a little harder than she had needed to but it got the message across. She sat on the bathroom floor and started to cry. The dream she had was becoming a common one. Now she was getting them almost every night. She didn't know why or what it was suggesting.

She suddenly felt bad for snapping at Draco. It wasn't his fault her subconscious was fucked up.

She heard a knock on the door.

"Kayla?" She heard a muffled Draco say. "I can hear you in there love." She ignored him and brought her knees into her chest, the tears still falling hard and fast. She heard the door open slowly but she didn't respond. She kept replaying Liam's disappointment and her parent's grief in her mind. It was her fault they were that way. Something bad could have happened to them and she would have no way of finding out because she hadn't been writing to them. She felt Draco's hands on her shoulders.

"Kayla you have to tell me what's wrong. Please I hate seeing you like this." He said, his voice breaking ever so slightly. She looked up at his concerned grey eyes.

"Well, I've been having this dream for the past few weeks…" She told him everything that happens in the dream, including Liam telling her that her life revolves around Draco.

"The worst part is that it's true, I've only written about three letters to my parents this year. What if something really has happened? They have no way of contacting me, they don't own an owl, and I don't have a phone." She said worriedly. Draco's eyebrows furrowed.

"Isn't a phone that elictonic thing muggles use to communicate?"

"Electronic" She corrected.

"You could just send them a letter to make sure everything's okay and it'll be fine." He advised.

"It's not just about the letters Draco! What if my dream is foretelling something? What if there's a problem like my grandma or grandpa are sick or they were robbed or something?" She said coldly. Draco sighed with exasperation. Whatever he said was wrong! He couldn't give advice without getting his head bitten off.

"Well, if you send them a letter to make sure everything's okay, and then if all is well, you'll see them on the fourteenth when we go to the art gallery anyway so you can spend some time with them." He said, choosing his words carefully so she doesn't shout again. He could understand her frustration and anger, although it is misdirected, because of this dream making her feel guilty. She mulled over his suggestion before nodding.

"Okay, let's do that." She said quietly. His body relaxed with relief. She turned around and looked at him.

"Sorry I snapped." He smiled kindly.

"You have every reason to snap love, you're under a lot of pressure at the moment. No one can stay composed forever." He said wisely. She muttered something that sounded like "You can" but he chose to ignore it, knowing full well that it wasn't true.

He helped her up and turned to face her.

"You okay now?" He said. She nodded slowly. He raised an eyebrow.

"Sure?"

"Yeah Draco I'm fine." He smiled softly.

"Okay, just don't have a mental breakdown on me again." He said jokingly. She gave him a questioning look.

"Too early to joke about it, I'm sorry." He said. She smiled weakly and set off to get ready so that she could send a letter to her parents. She walked down to the owlery early to avoid anyone she knew that could potentially want to accompany her, except for her close friends. She couldn't deal with any small talk and awkward silences.

When she got to the top of the tower, a dark-haired boy was already there. Her heart sped up when she recognized the shaggy style and jet-black circular glasses. The one person that she had no intention of talking to at this time was standing with his back to her. Quickly and quietly, she hid behind the door as she saw Harry turning around.

He had a look behind him before he carried on his conversation with his beloved snowy owl, Hedwig.

"What should I do Hedwig? Practically the whole school hates me because of this tournament and I thought I had my best friends to back me up… but I don't. You and Sirius are the only people I can talk to." He said gently to the creature. "How could they just betray me like this? I can't possibly approve of Kayla dating... _him._ This whole time she was keeping a fundamental part of her life from me." Kayla could see Hedwig from the corner of the door. For some reason, she thought her expression was a fed-up one. She also felt extreme guilt for causing Harry to lose his friends.

"Anyway, make sure you get this to Sirius okay?" He said lovingly before sending her off. Kayla could suddenly feel her nose start to itch, probably from the dust that was behind the door. She had to hold in her sneeze for just a few more seconds until Harry leaves.

There is only so much you can do to hold in a sneeze. Harry turned around sharply when he heard the noise.

"Who's there?" He called. Kayla held her breath in the hope that Harry would give up the search and leave. Somehow, Harry didn't seem like much of a quitter. His bright green eyes surveyed the area for any signs of movement. Kayla didn't know how long she could hold her breath for. After another thirty seconds, she let it out and she heard the raven-haired boy move closer. She closed her eyes and prayed to whoever was watching over them that he wouldn't find her. The next thing she heard was the sound of the door creaking and moving away from her.

She opened her eyes and slowly looked up at a pair of shell-shocked emerald eyes.

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**Thank you for reading. What did you think of Harry's reaction in the last chapter? I wasn't quite sure how he would have reacted so this is as close as I thought. Please review! ~ writingtoinspire**


	33. Chapter 33

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of these wonderful characters (apart from my protagonist Kayla and her family).**

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"KAYLA?" He shouted, causing all the owls squawk piercingly. Kayla cringed at his volume. Who knew he was such a loud person?

"Hi Harry." She said, grimacing. He raised his eyebrows at her.

"What are you doing here?" He said sternly.

"Well, this is an owlery. Take a guess." She said sarcastically as she made her way over to her tawny owl, Mercury.

"_Who the fuck does she think she is?"_ She heard him think. She rolled her eyes and turned to face Harry who was giving her suspicious looks.

"What? It's a free country, I have a right to be here just as much as you do." She said with annoyance.

"_Snarky bitch."_ She narrowed her eyes.

"What did you call me?" She said before she could stop herself. Harry looked at her with confusion.

"I didn't say anything." He said. "What's going on Kayla?" She mentally slapped herself. Why did she have to react to that comment he had made? Well, technically he didn't make it, just thought it.

"Kayla! Answer me!" He said, taking a step closer. Kayla's eyes widened with worry.

"Forget I said anything." She mumbled and went to walk past him but he stopped her. She looked at his piercing green eyes.

"I thought we were friends." He said simply.

"We are." She said quietly, avoiding his eyes. Harry let go of her arm and crossed his arms.

"So why are you hiding things from me?" He said.

"What do you think I'm hiding from you Harry?" She challenged.

"Well you hid your relationship with Malfoy from me! Who knows what else you're keeping from me."

"But I kept that from you because I was afraid of how you would react! And I was right to do so because you weren't hearing me out yesterday. Hermione and Ron were able to accept it, why is it so difficult for you?"

"Because it's Malfoy! Its that slimy Slytherin git that tortured us all during three years of school." He shouted.

"Don't you think people can change?" She asked.

"People can, _Malfoy _can't!" He replied angrily.

"What is this fixation on _Malfoy?_ You assume he's evil because he's a Slytherin and a Malfoy. He isn't a bad person Harry, he's just misguided. He had prejudices because it's what he was brought up with as a child. You can't say that you wouldn't have been like that if you were taught those things as well." She said in the hope that Harry would at least accept their relationship.

"_Bullshit."_ He thought. Kayla could feel her blood boiling.

"Why do you have to be so close-minded?" She yelled. Harry looked dumbstruck.

"But I didn't say anyth- "

"BUT YOU WERE THINKING IT!" She shouted even louder. Her heart stopped. Why had she said that? He's going to guess something was up. Before she could give him a chance to speak, she spun around and ran out of the owlery.

He followed her and she could sense him catching up to her fast. She turned a corner and saw an empty classroom. She ran towards it and shut the door behind her. Hopefully he was far behind enough that he didn't see where she went. Her heart was beating out of control from the running. She sat on the floor and closed her eyes.

After several minutes, her heart rate had gone down considerably and there was no sign of Harry. He must have gone right past the classroom. She walked out of the classroom and looked around.

She got the biggest shock of her life when she saw the messy-haired boy leaning against the wall beside the door.

"I was wondering when you were going to come out." He said, walking towards her. "Are you going to tell me what's going on now?" He said, raising an eyebrow. Kayla looked at him with her mouth open. What now? What was she supposed to say? She groaned.

"Okay fine I'll tell you." She grabbed his hand and pulled him into the classroom. She closed the door and put a silencing spell on the room just to be safe.

She turned around to see Harry looking at her strangely.

"_What is so secret that you have to put a silencing charm on the room?"_ He thought.

"You'd be surprised." She murmured.

"What?" He said, thinking he had heard her say something.

"Nothing." She said quickly. Harry raised his eyebrows and ignored it.

"So? Are you going to tell me what's going on?" He said impatiently. Kayla rolled her eyes.

"Give me a minute Harry, I need to just collect my thoughts. There's a lot to tell you." She said, fiddling with her fingers. Harry's curiosity was peaked.

"So at the beginning of the year, Draco and I started talking and we steadily became good friends." She could hear the curse words radiating from Harry's thoughts the minute she said that sentence. She balled her hands into fists.

"Please just stop thinking for a minute and hear me out." She said through her teeth.

"But why- "

"I'll come to it." She said irritably. "So anyway, there was one day where Draco said something that offended me… and I got so angry that I stopped talking to him and meeting with him. That was when I told Hermione everything and realized that I was developing deeper feelings for him." Harry had a sincere look on his face, as if he was actually listening and taking everything in. Kayla simply carried on and didn't question it. She didn't want to jinx anything.

"I didn't speak to him for several months and instead of getting over my feelings, they just got worse. When Hermione, Luna, Ginny and I went to get our dresses for the Yule Ball, Luna's aunt Irene asked me about something called a Fortis. I had never heard of a Fortis before and so Hermione and I went to the library. You know what Hermione's like." She said, which received a nod and a small smile. She took a deep breath and prepared herself before telling him the next part.

"A Fortis has the ability to read people's minds and, with a bit of practice, delve into their thoughts as well. They cannot be stopped by Occlumency." Harry's eyes widened.

"_She can read people's minds?!" _He thought.

"Yes I can. Don't worry; I've heard the truth about your feelings towards my relationship with Draco… and some other stuff." She said. Harry's cheeks reddened. "Anyway, the book also mentioned that Forti have a certain person, another half, that they are destined to be with. The connection between the two people is so strong that they can communicate with each other using their thoughts only." Harry's eyes enlarged even further.

"So Malfoy's your –" She nodded.

"We've been together since the ball." She said quietly.

"So that's what that was yesterday? You guys were looking at each other in a weirdly intense way. It was freaking me out a little."

"Yeah, he was being really rude and I was basically telling him to shut up."

"_That's fucking freaky"_ Harry thought. Kayla stepped forward and whacked him on the shoulder.

"Ow! What?" He said irritably.

"Control your thoughts Harry." She said sternly. Harry's cheeks flushed red.

Silence fell on the two friends. Harry felt guilt bubble up in the pit of his stomach. Kayla hoped that Harry would show some emotion, anything, so that she knew how he felt about this arrangement. Harry searched her eyes for any sign of amusement or anything that would tell him that this was a joke. He didn't want to believe her. Somehow, Kayla didn't seem like the sort of person to lie to her friend's faces.

"I'm sorry Kayla. I didn't mean to upset you in any way; I just don't trust Malfoy. I don't want him to hurt you because you're one of my best friends and I think of you as a sister. So as a brother, I need to protect you from gits that could potentially break your heart… and then beat the shit out of them if they do." He confessed. Kayla felt her face break into a hint of a smile. She didn't say anything and just stepped forward to give him a hug. Harry hesitated before hugging her back.

"_Thank goodness."_ He thought. _"I couldn't deal with Kayla still being angry with me."_ Kayla let go of Harry and gave him an amused look.

"You heard that didn't you?" He said sheepishly. She nodded and chuckled.

"Get used to censoring your thoughts." She warned. He nodded and stored the information in his mind for later. Somehow, Kayla thought he would forget. Hermione always does.

"_Kayla where the hell are you?"_ She heard Draco think.

"Let's go back to the common room, Draco's getting impatient. You also have some apologizing to do." She said pointedly, walking towards the door.

"_Keep your knickers on Draco, I'm on my way back."_ She didn't get a reply and smiled smugly.

"How –" Harry started. Kayla turned around and raised an eyebrow.

"Right, telepathy." He said, following her out.

"Who am I apologizing to?" Harry asked warily.

"Draco." She said flippantly, to which she received an irritated groan. When the two were walking back, she heard Draco again.

"…_I don't wear knickers."_ She heard him say grumpily and chuckled, which received a questioning look from Harry.

"Just something Draco said." She told him, waving it off as they approached the Gryffindor portrait.

"_Couples are so strange."_ Harry thought. Kayla ignored the thought and muttered the password. The two climbed in and saw Draco pacing in the middle of the common room. He looked up and his silver eyes glazed over with relief. He walked over, ignoring Harry, and pulled Kayla into a tight hug.

"I only went to the owlery Draco. It's not like I just walked off into the Forbidden Forest." She said with amusement.

"At least tell me if you're leaving the common room next time." He said quietly. "I came out the bathroom to find you had gone, and after talking to Granger and Weasley, both of which hadn't seen you, you can't expect me to stay _calm_." He explained. Kayla felt her heart constrain at his worry.

"I'm sorry Draco, I will always let you know if I'm going somewhere okay?" She said, placing a hand on his face gently. He nodded and placed a kiss on her forehead. His gaze shifted to the figure behind her. His eyes went from soft to angry at the drop of a hat.

"Potter." He said through gritted teeth. He took a step forward and put Kayla behind him protectively.

"Draco, it's fine." She said, walking forward and turning to face him. "Harry actually has something to say to you." She turned to face her dark-haired friend and gave him a look that let him know that he had to apologize now.

"Here? In front of people?" He whined. Kayla crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows.

"Yes Harry, in front of people. The same people who witnessed your blow-up yesterday. If you embarrassed us in front of them, you can now embarrass yourself in front of them." She said like a stern mum. From the corner of her eye, she saw the Weasley twins stand up and stroll over to watch the show, in the hope that there would be more drama. Harry rolled his eyes and cleared his throat.

"Erm look Malfoy… I'm sorry I doubted your motives. You clearly care about Kayla and I will try my best to act civil towards you, as long as you do the same to me." Harry said irritably, his eyes shifting about in order to avoid the steely grey ones boring into his skin.

"_Is he being serious?"_ Draco thought to Kayla. She turned her head and nodded.

"_What are you waiting for? He sounds sincere to me."_ She thought. She sensed the two boys were uncomfortable but they knew it was for the best.

"Apology accepted Potter. But only for Kayla." The blond-haired boy saw several mouths fall open at his quick acceptance. Kayla smiled smugly.

Who knows? Maybe one day they will learn to be friends.

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**A nice long chapter for you guys today! Please let me know what you thought by reviewing and sharing with your friends.**

**With love ~ writingtoinspire**


	34. Chapter 34

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling. If I owned Harry Potter, I would not be writing fan fiction... trust me.**

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On the first day back, the whole school was alive with gossip.

"Did you see them?"

"They were together! Holding hands!"

"I saw them in the holidays, there was a huge fight in the Gryffindor common room."

"Apparently he punched Potter right in the face."

This was the over exaggerated, mindless gossip Kayla heard everywhere she went. Before she and Draco had made the relationship public, she was completely invisible. People were oblivious to her. Now, they seemed to know everything about her.

"She's a muggle-born."

"She's particularly good at Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"She carries around a little black notebook."

One cold Friday morning, a week before Kayla and Draco were to meet her parents, Kayla finally got a letter back from her mother and father. She ripped it open at the breakfast table and read the neat calligraphy of her mother eagerly.

_Kayla,_

_Happy New Year love. I'm sorry about our late reply. Your father has been busy with this gallery opening and has had hardly any sleep. But besides that, we're both fine._

_We don't expect a letter every day Kayla, so don't feel guilty if you don't get time to write to us. We understand it's been a busy year so far with the tournament. We're just excited to see you next week._

_How are things with you sweetheart? You didn't mention much in your letter because of your unnecessary worrying. Are your lessons going well? How are your friends? __We're looking forward to finally meeting one of them next week. _Send our luck to Harry in the tournament by the way.

_All our love,_

_Mum and Dad_

Kayla sighed in relief. They were fine, all that worrying for nothing.

"_I'm guessing it's good news?"_ She heard Draco think. She looked over to the Slytherin table and smiled at the blond-haired boy.

"_Yes they're fine."_ She said. She saw him raise his eyebrows knowingly. _"Don't you dare say I told you so."_ She thought. He winked at her cheekily.

"_I told you so."_ He thought triumphantly. She looked at him through narrowed eyes.

"_What did I __just__ say?" _She thought irritably. He smirked.

"_You said 'say' not __think__." _He thought simply. She rolled her eyes at him.

"_Smart arse."_ He winked at her cheekily. The day flew by and before she knew it, she was sitting in the Gryffindor common room with her friends, chatting and laughing merrily. From the corner of her eye, she saw a considerably short person approaching the group. She turned to face a small trembling boy with shaggy brown hair, who was looking at her with wide-eyes. She could tell from the child's thoughts that he was nervous about approaching older students. He reminded her of Neville in his first year.

"Erm… sorry, but Draco Malfoy is waiting outside for you. He asked me to tell you." He said, his hands clearly trembling. Kayla smiled kindly at the small boy.

"Thank you…" She trailed off, hoping he would mention what his name was.

"Oh! Evan." He said quietly.

"Thank you Evan." She said, standing up. He smiled and hopped back over to his friends. She flashed a quick smile towards her friends who acknowledged her before they carried on talking between them.

"_Such a sweet boy."_ She thought as she opened the portrait and saw Draco waiting. He turned his head towards her and smiled his perfect smile that showed his pearly teeth. Kayla felt her stomach flip, as it always did when he smiled at her like that.

"Who's a sweet boy?" He asked as he walked forward and planted a kiss on her cheek.

"The first year you asked to get me to open the portrait." She replied and took his hand, entwining their fingers.

"Really? Reminded me of a shorter, more nervous version of Longbottom." He smirked as he saw the real Neville, who seemed to be sending him daggers.

"_Longbottom looks pissed. Did someone take his Herbology textbook?"_ Draco remarked to Kayla. She nudged him in the rib cage and heard a small 'oof'. She suppressed the laughter that was bubbling in her throat as they approached the now silent group of fourth-years.

"Kayla, is it really a good idea to let Malfoy come in here?" Seamus said, narrowing his eyes at the blonde Slytherin. Draco was about to retort when Kayla stopped him.

"_Let me handle it. You don't want to get on their bad side right now."_ She told him. He nodded ever so slightly. Only Harry and Hermione saw this nod and looked at each other with amusement.

"_He's so whipped."_ Harry thought. Kayla flashed him a look and the tips of his ears started to redden.

"Seamus, he's my boyfriend. If we want to be together on a Friday evening, we will." She told him calmly.

"Why don't you go down to the Slytherin common room then?" Seamus replied in his thick Irish accent.

"You think I'd do that to her?" Draco said suddenly. Seamus' eyebrows shot up. "Do you realize she would probably be in a lot more danger there than here?" He said, feeling the anger rising up in his chest. Seamus stayed silent.

"The only person that is accepting of our relationship in Slytherin is Zabini. How do you think the rest of the house will react to her being there? I'll tell you, it'll be a whole lot more violent than you are being right now." He said, in a more reserved tone.

"How do you know?" Dean asked, more curious than angry. Kayla saw a memory surfacing in Draco's mind.

"When we were in first year, there was a boy in sixth year named Castor Grayson. He was one of the most respected Slytherins at the time. One day he walks into the common room with a Gryffindor girl named Alexandra Vega."

"I remember her, everyone called her Lexie." Hermione said. Harry nodded, he too remembered her.

"Yes well she was a half-blood, and there was an uproar." Draco said coolly. "She had to be rushed to the hospital wing after another Slytherin hexed her. Grayson lost his respect, but he couldn't care less, because the people that previously respected him, had hexed the girl he loved. He stayed with Lexie for the rest of his time at this school, and after I'm assuming." Seamus looked guilty whilst the rest of the group was stunned at the tale.

"If she was hexed for being a half-blood, what will they to a muggle-born? Kayla would probably have to be taken to St. Mungo's, forget the hospital wing." He bit. The group of Gryffindors sat in pin-drop silence.

"When I heard that Kayla was dating you, I thought that she had made a big mistake. But the last few weeks have proved me wrong… maybe you're not _all_ bad." Seamus said, looking at Draco straight in the eye. Draco nodded slowly.

"I appreciate that Finnegan." He said. Seamus held his hand out and Draco took it. Kayla smiled widely at the two boys.

The rest of the evening was spent talking and sharing stories until the embers of the fire were dying down and the common room was empty. Kayla leaned her head on Draco's shoulder and yawned.

"_Tired?"_ She heard him think.

"_Just a bit."_ She said, her eyelids drooping slowly. He watched as she battled to keep her eyes open.

"Come on." He said quietly, whilst moving his shoulder from underneath her head. He took her hand.

"We're going to hit the sack now I think. Kayla's practically sleeping walking." He said, trying not to laugh at Kayla's half-conscious body standing up and swaying slightly. Everyone watched her as she walked slowly towards the stairs. Just as she got to the first step, she felt her foot miss it and she felt herself fall forwards. Suddenly, a strong arm grabbed her by the waist and stopped her from crashing to the ground. She heard a deep voice chuckling in her ear and she turned to face Draco.

"Thanks." She mumbled before walking the stairs more carefully. Once the couple was in the dormitory, the discussion began.

"He must really like her." Dean said, surprised.

"And the way they look at each other, it's almost as if they could read each other's minds!" Ginny said. Hermione looked at Harry, who was smiling knowingly at her.

"_If only they knew."_ She thought.

She glanced over at Ron pensively, who was also slowly falling asleep. She nudged Ginny who sat next to her and gestured towards the sleeping redhead. Ginny's eyes sparkled with mischief as she tiptoed over to her brother. The rest of the group had fallen silent as they realized what Ginny was doing.

Ginny reached for her wand, which was in her pocket and muttered a spell and pointed in the direction of her room. A few seconds later, a small make-up bag came whizzing down and into her hand. Hermione put a hand over her mouth to stifle her giggles.

After a few minutes of hard work (on Ginny's part) and a lot of quiet yet hysterical laughter (on Hermione's part), Ginny woke Ron up.

"Ron, it's late. Go to bed." Ron simply nodded and stood up, stumbling up the stairs and into the boy's dormitory. Ginny grinned at the image of Ron's face the next morning when he notices that he has been defaced.

Meanwhile, Kayla had gotten herself ready and settled in bed. Draco lingered in her room, wondering whether he should go back to the Slytherin common room at this late hour, or if he should just stay here with Kayla. The second option was more appealing to him, as the gossip twins must be staying somewhere else for the night, and Granger wouldn't really mind. Plus, Kayla's tiny body was just lying there; the corners of her mouth were turned up ever so slightly in her sleep. All he wanted to do is curl up next to her and hold her in his arms. The sound of her voice brought him back from his thoughts.

"Draco," She mumbled. "I can hear your indecision from over here." She opened her bright blue eyes and looked at him from her bed.

"Either go or stay… preferably stay." She said, smiling sleepily at him. He grinned. How is she so adorable? He waved his wand and his uniform was transformed into his pajamas, meaning just trousers. Kayla's sleepy eyes scanned over his muscular chest as he moved closer to the bed. He saw her eyes darken and knew what she was thinking.

"Checking me out are you?" He said, winking at her. Her eyes widened and mumbled good night before turning on her other side. She heard his deep chuckle and felt him getting into bed. She felt her cheeks starting to redden. She never knew he was in such good shape. Suddenly, a strong arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her closer. She felt his breath tickle the back of her neck as he whispered in her ear.

"You're blushing." He said, holding back his laughter. She elbowed him in the stomach and closed her eyes in an attempt to fall asleep so she didn't have to face Draco.

"I love you." She heard him say. She stayed silent for a few moments before turning to face him. She looked up into his molten silver eyes and smiled, showing her pearly white teeth.

"I love you too Draco." She mumbled, still feeling embarrassed for looking at his body earlier. He smiled at her shy behavior. He kissed her tenderly on the lips. Her stomach erupted with butterflies; it always did when he kissed her. He pulled away and looked at her radiant face.

"You're still blushing." He said cheekily, to which he received a playful smack on the shoulder. He chuckled, shaking the bed ever so slightly by doing so. She narrowed her eyes before yawning and closing them. She shuffled closer to him and made herself more comfortable. Draco did the same and the two were sleeping soundly within minutes, wrapped in each other's arms.

Hermione made sure the two were fast sleep before getting ready for bed herself. She heard the entire exchange between the young couple and felt her heart constrict. She thought about the connection that the unlikely pair shared. It was so mesmerizing to watch them interact, mentally and physically. You can tell when they were talking to one another in their minds, by the looks in their eyes. There was a huge amount of intensity there; it was nothing like any other normal couple. Every now and then, Malfoy would touch her hand or lean towards her, and she would do the same. It was subtle but Hermione noticed it. It was little touches like that, that showed that they were constantly communicating with each other, even if they weren't speaking. They really did love each other.

She wondered if she could ever have something moderately similar to them. She thought about Ron in particular. He was so clueless, and it aggravated her to no end.

She sighed and climbed into bed, falling into a dreamless slumber.

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**Sorry about the mushiness but I can't help it! I'm a mushy person. Sorry its been a while, but I made this chapter a little longer for you to make up for it.**

**Tell me what you thought by reviewing and sharing with your buddies. With love ~ writingtoinspire**


	35. Chapter 35

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of these wonderful characters. They are the creations of the incredible J.K. Rowling.**

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Kayla woke up to the sound of Ron shouting.

"GINNY! YOU GET YOUR ARSE HERE RIGHT NOW AND EXPLAIN WHY I HAVE RED STUFF ALL OVER MY FACE." She heard him say. She felt something on her waist shift and she opened her eyes a fraction. She saw Draco's steel grey eyes opening slowly. She smiled at his sleepy state and bed hair.

"Can I kill Weasley?" He said, his voice affected from sleep. She chuckled.

"Not before I do." She said to her blond boyfriend. He smiled a crooked smile before bringing her closer to him.

"Good morning love." He said huskily. She felt shivers down her back upon hearing his voice in the morning.

"Good morning Draco." She replied. She reached behind her to get her wand and glanced at the time.

"It's nine o'clock." She said, which received a groan.

"Too early." He said. She chuckled. She waved her wand over her mouth and over Draco's. He gave her a questioning look.

"Breath freshening charm. I have a thing about morning breath." She said, her cheeks turning a pale pink. His eyebrows rose.

"Really?" He said. She nodded, feeling embarrassed. "Me too." She looked at him in shock.

"Really?" He nodded and leaned in to give her a kiss.

"GINNY!" Draco stopped and she saw him clench his jaw in aggravation. She held back her laugh, as she got out of bed.

"Come on, let's see what's going on." She said, putting on an old, oversized hoodie that previously belonged to her father. Draco put on a t-shirt and followed his short girlfriend out.

"_You look sexy in that jumper."_ He thought. She kept walking, but saw a blush taking over her cheeks. He chuckled.

"Ron, what the hell is going on? Do you intend on the whole house hearing you?" Kayla said, as she entered the common room. Ron turned around and Kayla burst out laughing. Ron's face was smeared with lipstick and eyeliner. Pair that with a bewildered look and even the grumpiest of people are certain to laugh.

Draco tried his hardest to keep a straight expression but when Weasley's face looks like that, who couldn't laugh? By the time Ginny had gotten downstairs, Draco and Kayla were lying on the sofa, still trying to stop themselves from laughing. She looked at them with amusement before looking at Ron and doing the same as them.

"Ginny what did you do to my face?" Ron said, trying immensely hard to keep from strangling the three of them.

"N-N-Nothi-i-ing." She said whilst laughing. Ron's face was turning the same colour as the crimson lipstick.  
"Ginny you better tell me what you do or I swear I –"

"You'll w-what?" Ginny said, recovering from her laughing fit slowly. "Tell Mum?" She said, still trying hard not to burst out laughing again. Kayla and Draco had started to regain control and stood up from the sofa, their faces still red from the excessive laughing.

Ron's face burned with embarrassment as well as anger.

"Make-up suits you Weasley." Draco joked as he snaked an arm around Kayla's waist. Ron's eyes widened and he swore several times at Ginny before running upstairs to get rid of the bright red lipstick on his face. Kayla turned to Ginny who was grinning madly at the result of her prank.

"You're so mean to him." Kayla commented, only being half-serious. Ginny laughed.

"Yeah I know. But it definitely made a good start to my day." She said before making her way back up the stairs to get ready. Kayla smiled and turned to face Draco, to see that he was already looking at her.

"What?" She said with amusement. His grin grew wider as he leaned in to give her a peck on the lips.

"What was that for?" She asked. He shrugged and smiled a breathtaking crooked smile.

"Just because." He said. She smiled and got onto the tips of her toes to give him another kiss. She put her arms around his neck and tangled her petite fingers into his soft blond hair. Draco pulled her closer as he deepened the kiss, trying to feel as close to her as possible. The two heard a disgusted noise and broke the kiss to see who it was that was interrupting them. Harry looked at the two skeptically with an eyebrow raised. Kayla felt her cheeks heating up. Draco however, was completely emotionless.

"Potter." He greeted coolly. Harry nodded stiffly at him and gave Kayla a small smile.

"What was with all the shouting?" He asked her. She smiled, remembering Ron's make-up smeared face.

"Ginny played a little prank on Ron, which resulted in him getting red lipstick all over his face." Harry chuckled a little.

"Ah." He said as he remembered the night before "Well, I'm going down for breakfast. Do you," He glanced at Draco. "two… want to join?" He said hesitantly. Kayla smiled at his attempt to keep Draco involved. She looked at Draco's slightly surprised eyes.

"_Do you? I'm not too fussed personally."_ She thought. He looked at her.

"_I kind of wanted to get some more sleep._" She chuckled.

"_Lazy arse. But I do agree, I'm still feeling a little tired." _She looked back at Harry, whose expression was one of complete bafflement.

"We'll give it a miss. _Someone_ would like to sleep a little bit more." She said pointedly at Draco. He shrugged.

"It's the weekend." He stated. He turned to Harry. "But thanks for the offer Potter." He said, less harshly than before. Harry nodded before making his way out of the portrait. She beamed at the Slytherin next to her, who took her hand and enclosed it in his as they walked back up to the dormitory. She realized that this was the happiest she had felt in a very long time. Nothing could dampen her mood today. When they got upstairs, they found Hermione tying her hair up into a ponytail, fully dressed. She turned and smiled at the couple.

"Morning Kayla. Malfoy." She said. Kayla smiled and returned the greeting. Draco nodded in acknowledgement and made his way over to Kayla's poster bed. Hermione raised an eyebrow at him before turning back to Kayla.

"_What is he doing?"_ She thought.

"He wanted a few more hours of sleep." Kayla explained. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"_Lazy arse."_ Kayla smirked.

"Yeah that's what I said." She said to the brunette. Hermione smiled down at her friend.

"Anyway, I'm going to breakfast. See you later." She said, before walking out of the room and out of sight. Kayla turned to Draco, to find that he had already fallen asleep. She took off her hoodie and got into bed again. She wasn't feeling tired so much as lazy. She watched her boyfriend sleep. He always looked so peaceful. It's as if he never had nightmares.

That was when she had a sudden realization.

"Draco." She said softly. "Draco wake up." He stirred and opened his eyes slowly.

"Wha-What?" He said, slightly disorientated from waking up so quickly.

"I didn't have that nightmare last night!" She said. He sat up and rubbed his eyes.

"That's great! Perhaps it was because I was in your bed." He wiggled his eyebrows. She laughed and shoved his shoulder. He kissed her on the forehead and lied back down. She followed him and he was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. She wiggled around for several minutes until she was comfortable.

In his sleep, Draco flung his arm over her waist. She let out a small chuckle and snuggled closer to his warm body. She took in a deep breath and closed her eyes.

She woke up several hours later, with Draco still sleeping by her side.

"_Such a lazy little bugger."_ She thought. Draco's grey eyes flew open, causing Kayla to jump ever so slightly. He smirked with satisfaction.

"_Who are you calling a lazy bugger? You were asleep too."_ He rebuked. She smiled at him.

"_Why did you feel the need to scare me?"_

"_Because it's funny."_ She hit him on the shoulder playfully. He chuckled and tightened his grip around her waist.

"_I could stay here all day."_ He thought.

"_Me too."_ His eyes lit up.

"_Why don't we? It's a Saturday and I don't have any plans. Do you?"_ She shook her head and pondered.

"_Okay."_ He smiled and pressed his lips against hers. She melted into the kiss and responded well to the contact. She could feel him smiling against her lips and it made her laugh.

"I can feel you smiling Draco." She said, opening her eyes to look at his face. This smile of his was not like the others. He would usually have a smirk or crooked smile only showing a glimpse of his perfect teeth. But this particular smile made her stomach flutter at an intensity that she had never experienced before. It was a full-blown smile, not a half, and definitely not a smirk. A grin. It almost looked… goofy.

"What? You're looking at me weirdly." She shook her head and leaned back in to kiss him. The kiss got steadily more passionate, to the point where Draco had shifted so that he was on top of her. She grabbed her wand and flicked it at the door, which locked shut. Draco broke the kiss to look at her with surprise.

"You can do wordless magic?" He asked. She nodded.

"Only with very simple spells though, and only when I really concentrate. But I guess this time, I wanted the door locked, and I wanted it enough that it happened." She shrugged. He smiled down at her.

"You're incredible." He said before resuming the make-out session. He moved from her lips to her neck. He nipped and sucked, causing streaks of pleasure to radiate through her body. She let a small moan escape her lips. She had never felt this good before. Draco lifted his head to look at her, his steel eyes bright. He went back to kissing her on the lips. She felt his warm hand slip under her top and rest on her stomach. Reality brought her back to her senses as she realized where he was heading.

"_No wait."_ She thought, causing him to stop and look at her with confusion.

"_I-I'm not ready."_ She confessed. He nodded and kissed her on the forehead.

"_It's okay love. I understand."_ He thought, lying down next to her. She breathed a sigh of relief and turned to look at him.

"_So urm… h-have you ever… y'know?"_ She felt her cheeks redden. He smiled sweetly at her.

"_Honestly? No I haven't."_ She couldn't help but look at him with surprise. Could she help it? There were always rumors about Draco. Some more ridiculous than others. But one in particular that she considered to be true was that he wasn't a virgin. This definitely proved to her that rumors are a load of tosh.

Draco reached over to her and put his hand on her cheek. He stroked her baby-soft skin.

"What are you thinking?" He asked quietly. She smirked.

"What do you think I'm thinking?" She countered. He raised an eyebrow.

"Seriously Kayla? Come on, what are you thinking about?" He said with irritation. She bit back a laugh.

"I just thought you had already… y'know. _Done it._" She said, the embarrassment returning.

"So what if I haven't?" He asked, confused at what she was getting at. She cleared her throat.

"I guess I was just nervous." She said, not looking at him in the eye.

"When it comes down to it, I think I'll be just as nervous as you, if not more." He said honestly. She nodded and turned her head to avoid looking at him.

"I can tell you're fretting over something. Whatever it is, don't. When the time's right, it will happen." He said wisely. She looked at him and smiled slightly. She turned to look at the clock.

"11.30 Draco. We better get up." She said, before sitting up and swinging her legs over the side of the bed. She heard a muffled groan and laughed.

"You are literally a five year old." She said, making her way to the bathroom.

"Only for you love." She heard him say before she shut the door. She smiled before getting herself ready for the day, or what was left of it anyway.

When she exited the bathroom, she saw Draco sitting on her bed, fully dressed, reading a worn leather-bound book. When she walked closer she realized what exactly it was he was reading.

"Arthur Conan Doyle? But... that's a muggle author?" She said, sitting down next to him. He nodded.

"It sounded interesting. This Sherlock Holmes character is quite… something. Could I borrow it?" He asked. She smiled and nodded.

The two spent the day walking and playing in the snow and then the evening in the common room with warm drinks and each other for company. Draco hadn't been to the Slytherin common room for a while, so after spending the evening with Kayla and the other Gryffindors, he reluctantly made his way back to the cold stone walls of the dungeons where the Slytherins resided. He hated the Slytherin common room. It wasn't comfortable and homey like the Gryffindor common room. He shuddered, he almost sounded like he wanted to stay with the Gryffindors on a long-term basis.

The rest of the week consisted of work and worrying. The worrying was mostly on Draco's part, due to the fact that he would be meeting his girlfriend's parents soon. Despite Kayla's reassurances, he was still afraid they wouldn't approve of him.

Friday finally rolled around and Draco was feeling nauseous. After dinner, Draco went to get his overnight bag before going to meet Kayla outside the Gryffindor common room. When he arrived, he saw her already standing there waiting for him. He smiled at her eager expression and greeted her with a kiss.

"Ready?" He asked looking down at her heart-shaped face. She took his hand and smiled.

"Ready."

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**Pleeeeeease don't hate me for not updating for so long! I would give you reasons why I haven't done so but they're just excuses. I will try and update more regularly in the future.**

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**Thank you so much ~ writingtoinspire**


	36. Chapter 36

**Disclaimer: These wonderful characters belong to J.K. Rowling, excluding Kayla and her family.**

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As soon as Draco and Kayla came out of the fireplace into Diagon Alley, her parents enveloped Kayla in a huge hug. Draco stood idly as he watched his girlfriend interact with her family. Her father was a lot taller than he expected, and had shaggy dirty blonde hair. He wasn't dressed very smartly, but was wearing just a t-shirt and jeans with paint smeared all over them. His smile and eyes were kind and loving, but as soon as he saw Draco they hardened with suspicion over this strange boy that had travelled with his daughter. Draco's eyes widened at Kayla's father's biceps, which had now been flexed. They were fairly big, clearly indicating he worked out or lifted weights.

"_He's going to kill me."_ He thought. Kayla turned around at his thought and saw that her father had become very tense.

Kayla's mother smiled sweetly at him very much like Kayla would. The photo that he had seen of her was several years old yet she looked no different. She wore a long flowing skirt and top and wore many necklaces. Her long russet brown hair was tied back and she wore a bandana. There was no doubt that Kayla was her daughter.

Kayla had noticed that there was a looming silence and introduced Draco.

"Mum, dad, this is Draco." She said slowly, eyeing her father who looked ready to throttle him.

"Nice to meet you Draco. My name is Carina and this is my husband Evan." She looked at Kayla's father who still stared at Draco with a great intensity.

"So Kayla, this is your friend?" Mr. Green said, between gritted teeth. It was obvious he wanted to _demand_ an answer as to why there was a _boy_ that was being associated with Kayla.

"_Are you sure you want to tell them?"_ Draco thought to Kayla, she nodded slightly before looking straight at her father.

"Actually Dad, this is my boyfriend." She said boldly before taking Draco's hand to stop hers from shaking.

"_Well this was kept from us."_ She heard her father think. She bit her lip and waited anxiously for him to reply.

"And how long have you been together?" Her mother asked fondly. She wasn't as phased by the fact that her daughter was in a relationship.

"About a month." She said. Draco decided it was time to speak up.

"It's nice to meet you sir. I've heard so much about you both." He let go of Kayla's hand and raised it towards Kayla's father. Mr. Green stared at it for a moment before grabbing it and shaking it. His grip was tight enough to hurt Draco's hand ever so slightly (not that he would say anything). Draco also did the same for Kayla's mother, though she was a lot more gentle and accepting.

"We ought to the train station if we're going to get the four thirty train." Mrs. Green said, before walking towards the Leaky Cauldron wall, followed by Mr. Green, who carried his and his wife's bag, and the two teenagers carrying their own bags.

"_That could have gone worse."_ Kayla thought to Draco.

"_How so?"_

"_Well… my dad has a brown belt in karate…"_ She thought. Draco looked at her with wide eyes.

"_Holy shit."_ She laughed.

"_I'm kidding Draco!"_ He let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding in.

"_Don't do that to me."_ She smiled innocently at him.

"_Do what?"_ He glared mockingly at her and carried on walking. She giggled and kept up with him. She glanced at his hand and slipped hers into it. He looked down at their entwined fingers before looking at her. Her blue eyes alight with enjoyment and happiness. He smirked before kissing her nose quickly and looking back at her parents who were completely oblivious to their antics… or so they thought.

"_I'm going to rip that kid's arm off if he doesn't let go of my daughter." _Kayla heard her dad think. She stifled a laugh. Trust her father to get violent over something so little. Draco looked over at her amused face.

"_What?"_

"_Oh just something my dad was thinking."_ Draco didn't press for more information, knowing Mr. Green's thoughts were about him. Five minutes later, the four of them arrived at King's Cross Station. They passed Platforms Nine and Ten, and the entrance to Platform Nine and Three Quarters. Draco looked around at all the muggles going about their daily lives, completely oblivious to the fact that there was a whole other platform on the other side of that pillar. They carried on until they got to Platform Thirteen where a large train waited to depart.

"Our bags are small enough to take on board so let's get on. We're in the fourth carriage." Kayla's mother said before walking down to carriage four without looking back at the rest of the group. Draco looked at Kayla who was smiling at her mother before she carried on walking.

"_She does that a lot. You should see our family holidays."_ Draco picture Kayla and her dad sauntering behind Carina whilst she had a map in her hand.

"_That's pretty much it."_ Kayla said in reply to his thought. The four of them climbed onto the carriage and found their seats. Kayla sat next to Draco with her parents facing them. Once they had settled down, Draco took a look around at the interior of the train. It was much more modern compared to the Hogwarts Express. Suddenly the train started to move forwards and it was soon travelling at a fast rate. He looked at Kayla with bewilderment.

"_You didn't think wizards were the only people with trains did you?"_ She thought to him.

"_Well… I just assumed…"_ She giggled.

"Are we missing something?" Kayla's mother said, looking at her daughter with amusement. Kayla was abruptly aware of her parents sitting opposite her.

"No just erm… a private joke." She said.

"_Private joke my arse."_ She heard her dad think. She looked at him with wide eyes. He furrowed his eyebrows.

"What? You're looking at me strangely." Kayla shook her head.

"Sorry I thought I heard you say something…" She said, still looking at her father doubtfully.

"Okay…" He said, dragging out the word. The four of them sat in silence. Draco was still looking around his surroundings, intrigued as to how muggles were capable of creating transport like this without magic. His eyes travelled back to the two people in front of him who were both reading books. His gaze shifted to their hands, which were linked. Kayla's mother was gently stroking her husband's hand as she read. Draco looked down at his and Kayla's hands and smiled.

"_What's up?"_ Kayla thought, making Draco lift his head to meet her eyes.

"_I was just wondering, how long have your parents been together?"_ He asked. She looked at him weirdly before smirking.

"_Quite a few years actually. They had known each other for a long time before they actually got married. My mother used to live across the road from him when they were about seven and they would play together every day."_ Draco listened intently. _"But when they got to secondary school, they went separate ways as my mum moved away to attend a performing arts school in London. They didn't see each other for a long time… until they met again at university. My father was studying Art while my mother had carried on with Drama and Music. They lived in the same building and bumped into each other one day whilst on their way to the laundry room. My father would always say that he recognized her straight away, however my mum begs to differ."_ She beamed at the memory of her parents telling her and Liam this same story.

"_They finally figured out that they knew each other and dated for six years. On their six-year anniversary they got engaged. Dad loves to tell the story about how he proposed, in fact, you'll probably hear it on this trip if he likes you enough."_ Draco looked at her nervously. _"Which he will by the way. So anyway, they got married about six months later and less than a month after that, they found out Mum was pregnant with Liam. So it's been about twenty one years."_ Draco smiled. It sounded cheesy but people say that if you were destined to be with someone, then you will end up with them no matter what. Kayla's parents' story is a clear example of that. After not seeing each other for about seven years, they were reunited and have stayed together ever since. Even through the death of their first-born child. Kayla's dad cleared his throat, causing the two of them to jump.

Kayla's parents looked with hilarity in their eyes at the two of them and Mr. Green's eyes flashed to their linked hands. Kayla let go of Draco's hand and put the two in her lap, her face red with embarrassment.

"So Draco, tell us about yourself." Kayla's mother said. He nodded.

"Well, I'm in the same year as Kayla but I'm in a different house. I don't have any siblings and both my parents are wizards." Kayla's mother nodded as he spoke, intrigued by his life as a magical child.

"I've never really experienced the muggle world before, I'm very interested by all your inventions. For example, the teleffision?" He looked at Kayla who was laughing.

"No it's a _television_" She said, emphasizing the V.

"I'm guessing wizards don't have televisions?" Kayla's mother asked, looking as amused as Kayla. Draco shook his head, feeling very dim-witted for once in his life.

The rest of the journey was spent discussing the functions of many muggle items, as well as wizarding items. Kayla's mother was very interested in Draco's family history and his childhood. Mr. Green stayed scarily quiet throughout the journey, although Kayla heard every one of his thoughts. However, there was only one in particular that fazed her.

"_How am I going to tell her?"_

It was so simple yet so mysterious, it made her want to rip her hair out. There was something he was keeping from her, and potentially her mother, and she needed to know what it was. What if it was serious? Kayla cursed herself for thinking that way but could she help it?

Draco knew Kayla was worrying about something, but he couldn't tell what. He couldn't delve into her mind like she could to his. He would only be able to hear her if she was trying to talk to him. He'll have to find a spare moment to ask her what was wrong.

By the time they arrived in York, it was approaching seven thirty.

"The hotel is a short walk from here, we should be there in about ten minutes." Kayla's mother said, making her way towards the exit. As soon as they got outside, the cold air hit them like a slap on the face. Draco buttoned up his coat and turned up the collar to protect his neck. He grabbed Kayla's gloved hand and brought her closer to his side to share body heat. Ahead he saw Kayla's father do the same to Mrs. Green and he smirked.

As soon as they walked into the hotel, the warmth washed over them and they all brightened up instantly. Once they were checked in, they made their way to their rooms.

"We got two rooms, this one is yours." Kayla's mother said, opening their room.

"We're just next door." She said indicating to the door next to them. Draco and Kayla walked in with their bags and their mouths dropped. The décor was exquisite. The room was painted cream with a navy feature wall. The two beds were double beds, and had navy duvets. There was a large glass door that leads to a balcony, which had a beautiful view of the city.

"Its about eight o'clock, how about we all freshen up and get a bite to eat in the restaurant downstairs?" Draco nodded.

"That sounds great Mum, we'll knock on your door when we're ready." Kayla said, smiling. Kayla's mother nodded and she walked out with Kayla's father trailing behind with their bags.

As soon as the door closed, Kayla beamed at Draco.

"What are you all smiley about?" He said, putting his bag on a bed and unzipping it. She walked up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"It's just… they like you." She said, her happiness radiating from her body. Draco spun around and put his arms around her waist, and she lifted her arms to rest on his shoulders.

"Even your dad?" He said, lifting his eyebrow. Kayla bit her lip.

"Okay… so maybe Dad needs a bit more convincing but he'll come around. My mother loves you. You should have heard all the compliments she was thinking." Draco chuckled.

"One down, one to go." He murmured, looking down at her lips. Kayla chuckled and went on the tips of her toes to kiss him. He smiled and happily responded to the kiss. After a few minutes, Kayla broke the kiss and looked into those silver eyes that she loved so much.

"I'm going to go get changed. I'll be back in a few minutes." She said, kissing his nose before grabbing the outfit she had prepared and strolled into the bathroom. Draco smiled to himself before rummaging through his bag to find something to wear.

Ten minutes later, Kayla emerged from the bathroom, dressed in a pair of smart black trousers and a very cozy red jumper. She found Draco sitting on his bed, reading a familiar leather-bound book. When she got close enough to read the title, she smiled.

"You brought that with you?" She asked him, putting away her clothes. He jumped ever so slightly.

"Don't do that to me." He said, his hand resting on his rapidly beating heart. She chuckled.

"If you must know, I had been enjoying it the last time I read it, and when you said that I could borrow it, I thought it would be something I could read here." He explained. She nodded and climbed on the bed next to him. She rested her head on his shoulder and looked at where he had gotten.

"Ah, 'The Five Orange Pips'. That's quite an interesting one." She said. The two of them settled into a silence as they read. The only sound that was made was the turning of pages. Once the short story was over, Draco looked over at Kayla and kissed her forehead.

"Let's go." She nodded and climbed off the bed. The two of them walked over and knocked on the door next to their room where Mr. and Mrs. Green were staying. Mrs. Green opened it and smiled. She grabbed a few things and walked out, followed by Kayla's father, who locked the room.

"All ready?" Kayla's mother said. The two teenagers nodded. "All right then, let's make a move, I'm famished." She said, before walking towards the lift. Draco stared at the strange thing. They had taken the stairs up to the rooms, so he had not experienced this yet. He cautiously stepped into the metal box when the doors had opened and looked around.

"_Kayla where is this thing taking us?"_ He thought, examining the buttons with numbers on them.

"_Downstairs."_ She thought calmly. Draco looked at her.

"_How?"_ He asked.

"_Oh there's a lot to it. I'll explain some other time." _She thought. She was busy listening to the thoughts of her parents, her father's in particular. There was no indication that he had something important to tell her. He seemed almost… bored. She nearly growled in frustration.

Once they had eaten, they made their way back to their rooms, sleepy and full. Kayla was practically sleep walking and in the lift she was resting her head on Draco's arm (she was too short to lean on his shoulder). He had to stifle his laughter at the zombie-like girl that he loved.

"Good night Draco." Kayla's mother said when they had reached their rooms. Mr. Green had gone straight into the room without a farewell. Draco expected as much. He was going to have to suck up to Kayla's father to gain his approval.

"Good night Mrs. Green." He said politely. She glanced at her sleepy daughter, who still had her head resting on Draco's arm, and smiled lovingly. Just as Draco was turning around, he heard Kayla's mother speak.

"You really care about her don't you?" He turned back to face her and nodded slowly. She smiled calmly.

"She needs someone to look after her when we're not around." She said, her eyes glazing over. "She's always been so alone." Draco listened intently.

"It may not seem like it, but she's been through a lot for such a young age." Draco nodded, knowing what it was she was referring.

"Yeah, she told me about Liam. I'm so sorry." Mrs. Green nodded.

"But there's more than that. I won't go into it now; it's much too late." Draco curiosity had been peaked. "But promise me you will take care of her." He nodded again, unsure of what to say.

"I promise." Mrs. Green reached up and patted his shoulder before walking into her room. Draco stood in the hallway for a moment, digesting their conversation before looking down at Kayla's relaxed face.

She had already lost a sibling and experienced bullying, how much more grief and pain had she endured? Draco's heart sank at the thought of Kayla hurting anymore than she already had. But, he had made a promise to take care of her. He will see to it that she will no longer be sad. He will take care of her and love her more than he had ever loved someone before. She is broken, even if she doesn't show it, and it is his duty to fix her.

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**I made it extra long to make up for not updating after so long! Please let me know what you thought. For all I know, you all hate it and wish for me to be burned at the stake.**

**So please, review, favourite and share. With love ~ writingtoinspire**

**P.S. Carina (Kayla's mother's name) means 'beloved' in Latin. Evan (Kayla's father's name) means young warrior in Irish.**


	37. Chapter 37

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters of the Potter Universe, much to my dismay.**

**I am so sorry I left this chapter so late! But I made it extra long for you to make up for it. Happy reading!**

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Kayla woke to the sound of whimpering. She frowned and followed the sound, when her eyes landed behind her on Draco. His eyebrows were furrowed and his head was shaking.

"Please… no." He said quietly. Kayla sat up and quickly delved into his mind to figure out what he was dreaming about. She knew it was wrong but the sooner she knew what he was having nightmares over, the quicker she can help stop them.

_He was standing in a large dark room that looked like a dining room, with only two other people. The man had long platinum blonde hair and a sneer on his face. He was an older, slightly more sour looking version of Draco. He carried a cane with a bejeweled snake on the head. The woman also had long platinum blonde hair but unlike the man, she looked worried._

"_Draco…" The man hissed. He nodded._

"_Yes father?" He said, cringing at the tone at which Lucius Malfoy spoke. The elder Malfoy toyed with the snakehead on his cane as he spoke._

"_It has come to my attention that you are second in your class…" He started. Draco's eyes flashed with fear, before his mask slipped back on._

"_Well see father, I was a close second… the muggle-born Granger –"_

"_Muggle-born? Surely you mean __mudblood__ Draco." Lucius said, his face getting more and more angry._

"_Y-y-yes father s-sorry. I-I meant –"_

"_Are you going soft Draco? I can't have __my__ son going soft. I'm going to have to teach you a lesson." He said, walking over to Draco. That was when Narcissa spoke for the first time._

"_Lucius don't." She said quietly, yet defiantly. Mr. Malfoy looked at his wife and his face softened ever so slightly._

"_Cissy he deserves it." He said through his teeth._

"_He is just a boy, he will learn." She said, looking at Draco pointedly. Draco bowed his head._

"_Come, let's sit in the living room." She said, before she began to walk to the door. Lucius stood by Draco's side, glaring at him._

"_Lucius?" Narcissa called._

"_I'll be right there love." He said. His stare never left his son scared eyes. Once the grand double doors had closed, Lucius slapped Draco's face, his ring causing a deep scratch to be created on Draco's left cheek. Just as Draco was turning to face Lucius, he felt a large impact on his stomach and he doubled over in pain. He looked at his father, refusing to appear weak._

"_What your mother doesn't know won't hurt her." He hissed. Draco glared at his father. Lucius grabbed his son's hair and yanked it back._

"_Don't you __dare__ look at me like that Draco. Slip up again and I guarantee you will get much worse." He spat, letting go of Draco's blonde locks and stalking out of the room, his cloak sweeping the floor in a sinister matter. Draco's vision was blurred with tears._

Kayla left his head. She refused to let him suffer anymore. She got out of bed and walked over to Draco's shaking form. She sat down on his bed. His eyes were shut tight and he had some sweat beads on his forehead.

"Draco." She said softly, not wanting to frighten him. "Draco love, wake up." She felt slightly panicky. She tried soothingly rubbing her hand against his cheek in an attempt to rouse him.

His eyes snapped open and she jumped ever so slightly. He sat up and stared into space.

"I didn't mean to wake you." He said monotonously.

"It's okay." She said, rubbing her hand on his shoulder.

"It was just a dream, go back to sleep." He said. She shook her head.

"No it wasn't Draco. I saw it." His head turned to face her. "You know, it may feel better to talk about it? I know when I talked to you, I felt better." She said, wanting to help desperately. He shook his head.

"Oh, okay. Well… is there anything I can do?" She asked, despite feeling slightly hurt that he didn't want to talk to her about it. He shook his head again and she silently made her way back to her bed.

"Actually… do you think you could stay with me tonight?" He asked, sounding slightly childlike. Her heart melted. She made her way back to his bed and crawled in next to his tense body. After a few minutes of lying with him, his body relaxed and his arm wrapped around her waist and brought her closer. She could feel him trembling and she looked up at his face. His eyes were closed but his eyebrows were furrowed. She stretched out her neck and kissed his forehead. When she pulled back, his silver eyes had opened and were looking back at her sadly.

"I'm here." She whispered. He hugged her tight before slipping into a much-needed slumber. She smiled and closed her eyes, hoping he would sleep peacefully.

Kayla felt something shift on her stomach, and she opened her heavy eyelids slowly only to see the cream ceiling above her. She moved her head to the left and saw Draco sleeping soundly next to her, his arm still draped over her. She smiled at his pale face, calm and innocent in his own world. She searched for a clock and saw it was half past nine. She looked back at Draco and hesitated before turning to face him and shaking his shoulder gently.

"Draco, wake up." She said gently. He stayed still and she shook his shoulders again but a little harder.

"Not yet." He said in his deep gravelly voice. She smiled.

"We have to Draco, I'm sure my parents are up and dressed by now." His silver eyes opened slowly and he took a moment to absorb his surroundings before looking at Kayla and smiling slightly. He got up and out of bed almost instantly without another word. He walked into the bathroom after grabbing some clothes from his duffle bag. Kayla watched him from her spot on the bed and furrowed her eyebrows. She decided to wait until after he got out to ask what was going on. She knew it had something to do with the dream he had last night, but she wanted to talk to him about it anyway.

She grabbed the clothes she was wearing for the day and got changed in a separate bathroom. She brushed her teeth and washed her face. She examined herself in the mirror and frowned. Her hair was all over the place and tangled. She grabbed a brush and ran through the knots slowly before tying it into a ponytail with her fringe left out. She examined herself again and sighed.

"_This is as good as it's going to get."_ She thought to herself. She made sure Draco didn't hear her; he had enough on his mind. She sauntered out of the bathroom to find Draco sitting on his bed in deep thought. She stayed standing in the doorway, not wanting to disturb him. She watched him as his thoughts swirled around his already troubled mind.

"Hi." She said softly, in case he wasn't expecting to see her there. He lifted his head and gave her a smile, but it looked forced. She sat next to him and didn't say anything. She took his hand and squeezed it softly.

"When you're ready to talk about it, I'll be there for you. Remember that, okay?" She said to him. He kept his gaze on their linked hands. She put a finger under his chin to lift his face to get him to look at her. He searched her peaceful blue eyes with his melancholy grey ones and nodded without another word.

"Okay, well shall we go to my parents' room or do you need a bit of time?" She asked, moving her thumb soothingly over the top of his hand.

"Erm… could you just give me a few minutes?" He said. The tone of his voice was so sorrowful; her eyes almost began to well with tears. She hated seeing him this unhappy. She nodded and started to get up when she heard him again.

"Where are you going?" He asked, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. She smiled softly, realizing he still wanted her there. She sat back down on the bed.

"Nowhere." She said simply. The corner of his mouth twitched slightly in an attempt to smile. He couldn't explain why he felt so emotionless. He knew Kayla was curious about what happened, and he would tell her at some point, but at the moment he just felt… monotonous. His dream was like previous ones and he was used to them. What he didn't realize was that when he was having his nightmare, he would sweat and murmur a lot, to the misfortune of his roommates. He hated having nightmares. It made him look weak and vulnerable and he didn't want to look like that.

"You don't look weak Draco." He heard Kayla whisper next to her.

"_Damn it. Fortis."_ He thought. She looked up at him and gave him a small smile. His jaw clenched. She looked at him, expecting him to fire something back at her. He stayed silent and so she carried on.

"Nightmares are normal. Don't think it makes you vulnerable. It makes you human." She said, squeezing his hand gently. He looked at her and smiled halfheartedly. He kissed her on the forehead and stood up.

"Let's go." He said, before putting on his shoes and opening the door. Kayla stayed sat on the bed. She accepted he wasn't ready to talk about it, but she hoped that he would talk sooner. For now she would just have to listen to his thoughts instead of hear him saying them.

She followed him out and knocked on the door next to their room. Her father opened the door and smiled.

"Morning sweetheart." He said. His eyes looked dull and without sleep. The bags under his eyes were fairly purple. Even his smile looked tired.

"Woah dad. You look terrible." She said, her eyebrows furrowing. He shrugged as her mother came to the door. She smiled.

"Yeah, your father was up all night worrying about this evening." She rolled her eyes.

"Good morning Draco." She said to the tall teenager behind Kayla. He smiled and greeted her.

"Why worry dad? It'll be great, everyone will love your piece." Her father nodded.

"I hope so. Thanks Kay." He said, smiling weakly.

"Right, let's head down for breakfast." Kayla's mother said cheerfully before marching down the hallway towards the lift. Mr. Green chuckled before closing the hotel room door and following his enthusiastic wife. Kayla and Draco followed behind them silently. Throughout breakfast Draco remained particularly quiet whilst Kayla and her family caught up on Kayla's life. She told them all about the Triwizard tournament and how well Harry had been doing. Draco nearly sneered at the mention of Potter because of his bad mood. Kayla hear his thoughts bouncing off the walls of his skull, making her feel slightly deflated as well, not that she showed it.

"So shall we have a look around York for a little bit today? We don't have to be at the museum until seven o'clock so we have a lot of time to kill." Kayla's mother said, once they had finished eating. The other three nodded and nothing else was said. Kayla heard Draco's panicky thoughts about muggles and grabbed his hand underneath the table.

"_Thanks love."_ He thought.

"_No problem. I'll be there the whole time."_ He glanced at her and smiled gratefully. Mrs. Green eyed her daughter and the blonde boy.

"_They tend to do that a lot… stare at each other intensely."_ She pondered. Kayla's eyes snapped to meet her mother's and she smiled, a little too widely.

"_Something's going on."_ Her mother thought.

"Shall we go?" Kayla said, over-enthusiastically. Her mother nodded slightly. Kayla stood up and Draco followed her actions.

"I just need to get something from the room." She said. Her father nodded.

"I left a few things in our room as well." Once Draco and Kayla got to their room, Kayla cast a silencing charm on the room. Draco raised his eyebrow.

"Erm… are we allowed to -"

"Yes, it's fine. I talked to McGonagall." She said, wringing her wrist with nervousness.

"What's up?" He asked.

"My mum thinks something's up." She said, looking at him with worry. His facial features softened.

"Concerning what?" He asked, looking more serious.

"She keeps catching us looking at each other, but it's when we're communicating… y'know…" She gestured at her head and then his. She paced with anxiety.

"Would it be so bad if she knew?" He asked. She stopped and looked at him, a mix of emotions swirling around her blue irises. She shrugged.

"Well… I mean the only people that know are you, Hermione and Harry. I guess I don't want many people to know because they will become cautious of me… and they might try and censor their thoughts in fear of me reading them." She said, sitting on her bed. "Harry really seemed freaked out, Hermione is used to it by now but she was almost embarrassed by the fact that I could hear her thoughts. I just… I don't want to be a problem to be around. If my mother knew I was reading her mind, she wouldn't freak out but she might feel… violated." She sighed. "I can't just shut it off… it just happens. I'm worried that people would stay away from me if I told them. People think the ability I have is such a great thing, but now I'm realizing just how much of a burden it is." She said, playing with her fingers. Draco walked over to her bed and sat next to her. He took her shaking hands in his and watched her with a look filled with love.

"Don't ever think that you're a problem. You have a gift Kayla; you should embrace it. I can understand not telling anyone at school because you'd be treated like a circus act. But I think it might be a good idea to tell your parents. It's a fundamental part of who you are, and they deserve to know about it." He said with wisdom far beyond his years. She looked at him and felt her heart swell. She leaned in and felt her lips touch his. This kiss wasn't like the others. It was a kiss filled with love, understanding and trust. There was a sharp knock on the door and the two of them broke apart. Kayla sighed and went to open the door.

"Ready to go sweetheart?" Her father said happily. She nodded.

"Actually, there was something I wanted to tell you two first." She said quietly. Her mother nodded and walked into their room.

"What's wrong Kay?" Mrs. Green said, her voice filled with concern.

"Take a seat." She said, motioning to the two armchairs near her bed. Kayla paced, not wanting to look at her parents. She didn't know why she was so nervous. She felt a hand on her shoulder and she looked up at Draco with slight panic. He nodded slightly.

"What is going on Kayla?" Her mother said, rather sternly.

"_I swear to God if she's pregnant I will kill that blonde son of a bitch."_ Her father thought. Her eyes widened. Thank goodness it has nothing to do with Draco. She slipped her hand into Draco's and squeezed it.

"Okay well… at breakfast I'm sure you noticed Draco and I looking at each other weirdly." She started. She saw her mum nod slightly, whilst her father stayed still and silent. His thoughts were a different matter. Kayla felt her jaw clench at some of her father's thoughts. She felt the need to yell at him to stop thinking for one minute but she knew that it will cause more questions to arise and she did not need that.

"Urm… well about a month ago there was a ball at Christmas and when my friends and I went to get our dresses, the woman that owned the store was talking to me about Forti." Kayla heard her mother think something for the first time since she started the story.

"_I've heard that somewhere."_ Kayla glanced at her, eager to find out where her mother could have heard the term when she was a muggle. But she carried on.

"When I looked up the term in the library, it talked about Forti having a special ability that allows them to hear people's thoughts. It then mentioned that one of the first Forti was someone named Helena Fisher." Her mother tensed physically. "Do you know who she is Mum?" She asked, itching for an answer. Kayla could hear the mess of thoughts in her mothers mind and had heard everything. But she let her speak anyway.

"Helena Fisher is your great-grandmother." Mrs. Green said quietly. Kayla nodded.

"I remember her talking to my grandfather about something of that nature. I never really knew what it was, until now." Her father spoke for the first time.

"So are you –"

"Yes." She said simply. The whole room fell silent. She could hear her father's relieved thoughts.

"_So wait, she can hear me thinking?"_ Her father looked up to see his daughter's eyebrow raised, her eyes glinting with amusement.

"So no dad, I'm not pregnant." She said, trying to hold in her laughter as her father's cheeks turned a delicate shade of pink. His wife turned to look at him.

"You thought she was pregnant?" She said with outrage.

"In my defense, it sounded a lot like a pregnancy thing, considering she brought her… boyfriend with her." He said, glancing at Draco's shocked face.

"So what does he have to do with all this?" Her father asked with a different tone. She glanced at Draco and bit her lip.

"Well, Forti have one person who is… kind of like their soul mate. Usually Forti only get their powers once they turn seventeen, but if you meet your partner early, then you get your powers early."

"So Draco's your –"

"Yes." She said again. Her father's jaw clenched.

"_So he's here to stay…"_ He thought.

"Yes dad, he is." Kayla said, losing a part of her patience. Mrs. Green looked at her husband and then her daughter with confusion.

"So what was with all the intense staring?" He asked with a huff.

"Well as I said, Forti only have one person that they are meant to be with. So they have a special connection with that person that only works once they're together. Basically, Draco and I are able to communicate telepathically." Hey father's eyes widened so much they might just fall out of his head. Her mother also looked very surprised, but more than anything she looked very understanding.

"So when you stare at each other, you're actually talking?" Her mother asked with fascination. Kayla smirked.

"Not always. For all you know, Draco and I could be communicating right now." She said.

"We're not by the way." Draco said quickly. Kayla let out a small giggle.

"Well, I think it's great that you have this gift honey. But promise me you won't hold anything I think against me." Her mother said jokingly. Kayla shook her head and smiled.

"Don't worry Mum, I won't." Mrs. Green stood up and hugged her only daughter with a force that squeezed the breath out of her.

"Ma, you're making it difficult to breathe." She said, her voice straining.

"Oh! Sorry." She said, letting go and smiling. Kayla's gaze shifted to her father, who stayed very quiet with his head down, looking at his feet.

"Dad?" She said, feeling slightly worried.

"_Draco he isn't moving."_ She thought, panic rising up within her. He squeezed her hand to show that he was there for her. Suddenly Mr. Green looked up at her, his blue eyes shining with tears. Kayla felt her breath catch. She hadn't seen her father cry since her brother's death nearly nine years ago. She felt her eyes well with tears as well and she tightened her grip around Draco's hand. He looked at her and his heart clenched when he saw the tears threatening to fall from her eyes. Her father smiled slightly and walked towards her. Draco took a few steps back and let them have a bit of privacy. He looked at his feet awkwardly.

Mr. Green put his hands on her shoulders and smiled.

"If Liam were here right now, he would be so happy for you." He said softly. Kayla let out a sob. Her dear brother, if only he were here. She nodded in agreement.

"I miss him daddy." She said, sounding very vulnerable. Her father nodded and pulled her into a hug, the two of them letting the tears run down their faces without another word. Draco looked at Kayla's mother who also had tears streaming down her face. He can't imagine the pain of seeing your own parents cry. He could feel every single one of Kayla's emotions for the first time because she had finally let her guard down. He had never felt so over-whelmed, but he didn't have to deal with these emotions every day like she did.

He ached to comfort her. He wished he were the one holding her and soothing her. Kayla's father let go of her, and walked towards Draco. His eyes widened and Kayla saw him stiffen physically.

"_Draco, don't worry. I heard him. He just wants to talk."_ She thought, giving him a weak smile. Draco nodded, although by the look on Mr. Green's face, he was pretty sure he was going to get a black eye.

"You." He said, pointing a finger at Draco's chest. "Seeing as you're going to be around a lot, here's a bit of advice. _Look after her._ She's been through more than you could even imagine, so you better stay faithful to her, or so help me I will personally find you and make your life _hell_." Draco could hear the sheer intensity and meaning behind his words and nodded firmly. He would _never_ even think about leaving her.

"Sir? If I may…?" Draco said. Kayla's father looked at him for a moment before nodding.

"I love your daughter. Which I know sounds a bit premature considering we've only been together a month, but love has never really been very rational." From the corner of his eye, he saw Kayla's mother smirk and nod ever so slightly.

"When Kayla told me about Liam, it was before we were together, but I felt something I had never felt before afterwards. I felt like I had to protect her from any more pain and if she was ever hurt again, I would hunt down the person that did it, not before comforting her and being there for her. That's when I felt something else for her. Something besides fondness and familiarity." Kayla's father's face softened ever so slightly as interest crept into his eyes. Kayla too was listening intently at Draco's story, her eyes filled with tears of happiness.

"And sir, I intend to stand by those feelings. I intend to stay with Kayla, and I promise you from the depths of my heart, I will _never_ let her be hurt again." He said, sincerity radiating through every word he had said. Mr. Green watched him for a moment, before allowing the corners of him mouth to turn up ever so slightly.

"Well then, Draco, I think I should try to get to know you better." He said, lifting his hand, which Draco shook. His gaze shifted to Kayla who was beaming at him through her tears.

He felt Kayla's raw emotions and they were completely identical to his: pure and unconditional love.

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**I thought I'd give you some fluffy content to make up for my lack of updating, which I apologise for again. But, luckily for us, my exams are nearly over and my summer holidays are starting soon. You know what that means? Lots of updates! Woohoo!**

**I'd like to thank Lauren for reviewing the last chapter! I'm glad I'm not the only one that makes up characters.**

******Thank you so much for reading this chapter, and I hope to post another one soon. Until next time****, good bye. ~ writingtoinspire**


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